#kuroo tetsuroo kuro tetsuro

[jui-imouto-chan]

Ouran High School Host Club AU (Inspired by this post)

Yes, I used everybody they offered as the characters (and more!), it’s just a really big club. 

(It will 200% get bigger if I keep writing this, don’t test me)

Ship Tags: MiyaHina, AtsuHina, OsaHina, OiHina, KurooHina, BokuHina, AkaaHina, TsukiHina, UshiHina, AoHina, HyakuHina, NishiHina/NoyaHina, Hinata Harem aka Hinata/Everyone. 

Loosely follows plot, but a few things have been changed to match Haikyuu more, such as:

•Hinata isn’t an honor-student, he’s on an athletics scholarship (and while there are plenty of decent athletes there, they’re all rich enough to not need a scholarship)

•Hinata wears blue-light glasses often. He has good vision but having the glasses framing his vision helps him focus in class instead of getting (as) distracted.

•Yachi and Hinata switch off on some Haruhi stuff but Yachi isn’t the one the guys are all simping for.

•Yachi is an actual honor student but she’s not on the kinda full-ride scholarship Hinata is on. She’s like, partially rich, but not enough for Ouran (so she gets bullied or at least teased.)

•Hinata and Yachi got to be really good friends at orientation since she can sympathize with him better than all the actual rich people, and she helps him with his studies so he doesn’t completely flunk his classes. 

•The Twins, like Hikaru and Kaoru, have the same color hair (brunette) atm

•Hinata’s mom is a drag king to parallel Haruhi’s dad’s sitch

•Oikawa doesn’t let Iwaizumi into the club because he kills his eccentricity and egotism. None of the others can vibe check him the way Iwa-Chan does so that’s why he seems even more unbearable and thus more Tamaki-like.

••

Hinata tried to figure out where Yachi disappeared to, peering down halls and into classrooms through small openings of the doors. “Yachi-saaaan...”

He barely registered the vague scent of roses and sweets saturating the air as he pushed the door softly. 

The wood swung open as though pulled, Hinata stumbling through with a shout. A breeze and rose petals drifted by his face as he opened his eyes, head whipping up to view the silhouettes of the boys not too far from the door.

“Welcome to the Harukou Host Club!”

“Th-The... --What’s a host club?”

Hinata watched as all of the boys’ faces fell into befuddlement. 

“W-What a funny joke,” a brunet, sat upon a throne-like chair, commented, his fingers interlocked beneath his chin. “Isn’t that cute? Trying to win our hearts with humor.”

“But--”

“So, what kind of guys do you like? We’ve got plenty of types to spare, and I don’t think any of them have any problem attending to a male--ah, sorry, what’re your pronouns? That was rude of me to assume.”

Hinata’s instinctive, “He/him,” came out before he could attach his protests at the services offered, his stress elevating as the brunet hopped out of his chair and sauntered over to him, hands extended in shows of eccentricity.

“We haven’t gotten a boy, yet, huh, ‘Tsumu?” one of the guys still in the group commented, his arm draped over the shoulder of his exact copy (sans the parting of the brown locks). 

“No, but that’s because the only boys we’re involved with are each other,” the copy, ‘Tsumu(?), said, grabbing the other’s chin to hold his gaze. They stared into each other’s eyes for a second before their faces got a little green, the two of them separating to mime vomiting whilst laughing.

Hinata had to tune back into the brunet approaching him, who seemed to be going off on a tirade about beauty and elegance. He tuned back out almost immediately, finding even schoolwork to be more interesting.

“’Tsumu and ‘Samu are awful at the twincest-schtick, don’tcha think?”

“Right? I thought so, too. We’d be ten bajillion times better at it if we were identical twins!”

The ravenette rolled his eyes, although he drew in the other smugly. “Identical or not, the reason we work is because I’m a good actor.” Then, placatingly, he amended, “And you’re not hard to tease and smother with affection.”

His silver companion’s eyes lit up. “Man, you’re so cool, Kuroo.”

“Make sure to call me Tetsu when there are girls here.”

“Oooh do I get a nickname? Like, Kouta instead of Koutaro?”

Kuroo grinned, “Don’t give me an offer like that. I’ll call you Honey or Beloved, and while we’re raking in the cash, Akaashi’ll sell a bunch of merchandise with it.”

Another ravenette, probably Akaashi, nodded calmly as he penciled into his notebook. Beside him, a tall blonde smirked, his glasses flashing menacingly as he tapped away into a calculator. Kuroo and the silveret both paled and protested at him, which he seemed to ignore.

Speaking of ignoring things...

“You’ve been talking a long time, haven’t you?”

The brunet, knelt on the floor near a table, glanced over at him like he forgot who he was talking at. “Is that praise of my oratory skills? I’ve always been told that people get lost in my speeches, and it’s no surprise that you’ve gotten so enthralled with one!”

Seems like I wasn’t the only one who got lost, Hinata thought, noting the despondent, glazed eyes of some of the occupants. A short guy with a patch of blonde hair jumped up into a handstand on the shoulders of one of the taller guys in the back with white hair, and it was made evident that, no, some of them just always appeared completely detached from reality.

“So, anyway, what kind of guy is your type, Mr. Athlete? Maybe you like the cool type? The boy lolita?”

“—I AM NOT THAT SHORT—”

“You are quite that short,” the brunette continued, “Or maybe you like the strong silent type? —We have three of those. We also have twins—identical and fraternal— if you’re into the taboo kinda stuff. We don’t kinkshame here.”

“Maybe we should,” muttered the blonde guy with the calculator. His mouth was covered by a silver-haired guy with black ends, whose face betrayed no emotion even as the blonde fought against his palm irately.

“I’m not into this kind of thing,” Hinata said quickly, “Besides, doesn’t it cost money? I don’t think I’d be able to afford something like this, anyway.”

“Speaking of not being able to afford things... Shouldn’t we check up on her?” Probably-Akaashi motioned to a corner of the room with a piano and a familiar blonde girl hiding beneath its bench, sobbing meekly into her knees.

“Yachi-san!”

Hinata raced over to her, her head whipping up at his call. Her teary eyes let loose some sparkling droplets as she leapt at him, although the rope binding her ankles to the bench prevented her from fully reaching him. He thankfully was close enough that he saved her from a tumble to the floor.

“Hinataaaa,” she whined into his shoulder, “I’m going to have to sell my organs!!!”

“What!?”

“She came into our clubroom earlier and broke the vase we were supposed to sell at an auction,” explained one of the twins.

“It was worth eight million yen, and she told us she doesn’t have enough money but that she’ll sell her organs in order to pay us back, which is impressive in the dedication but very concerning.”

“We had Wakatoshi-kun put her on the bench to calm down, but she tied herself to it because she thought she would be our prisoner as a punishment.”

Yachi clearly tuned them out, too busy crying and hiding in Hinata’s arms. The redhead patted her on the head, wondering how things could get this weird in less than twenty minutes of her being out of his sight.

“Yachi-san.”

No response. Her blubbers were even less coherent now.

“Yachi-san!” He shook her by the shoulders until she blinked up at him. “I’ll help you, okay? Just promise me you’ll be more careful. And help me with my homework again!”

“Hinata...”

He grinned at her and patted her head. When he turned back to the group of boys, he could see they parted somewhat to allow the brunet to be visible whilst lounging on his throne that was turned to face them.

“I’ll be taking on Yachi-san’s debt,” he declared. The brunet rested his cheek on his fist and peered down his nose at him, smirk drawing his lips.

‘Kuroo’ spoke up, “Hoh? All eight million? Are you sure you can make it up, Chibi-chan?”

“You couldn’t even afford a school uniform; how do you plan to pay us back?” said the blonde guy, eyeing his white-and-pink tracksuit with no lack of judgment.

“I’ll...” Hinata glanced back at Yachi, her eyes glistening, and steeled his resolve, “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Then, Chibi-chan, from here on,” the brunet guy’s voice, initially dropped, lilted upward as his amusement mounted, "You’ll be our bitch.”

“What.”

•

Hinata frowned at the smudges all over his lenses, ignoring the twins (both sets) measured him for his uniform. 

He almost didn’t notice when Kuroo bent down to meet his eye-level and gently grasped the frames of his blue-light glasses. “Alright, Chibi-chan, we’ll be taking these. Though it doesn’t even seem like you need them, huh, since these lenses don’t really have any magnification?”

“Well, no, but since we have a lot of work on laptops here I thought they’d be better to have.”

Kuroo hummed and slipped them off his ears and nose, and all of the twins gawked at him as he blinked up at them.

“What?”

Osamu kicked Atsumu’s calf, and the Miyas dragged Bokuto away with them.

“Nothing,” said Kuroo, “Maybe they just forgot you’d have a face behind these.”

“Oh, I’ve done that before! Like when people are sick for a long time and they wear a mask, I kinda forget they have mouths!”

“Yeah, just like that.” 

•

“What kind of coffee is this?” The brunet, now known to be Oikawa Tooru, asked, beckoning Hinata over with the most obnoxious “come-hither” motion to ever exist.

“Instant. I don’t really understand coffee, but this is what my mom buys. It’s just cheap enough that I still have money for lunch.”

Oikawa sputtered at Hinata’s lackluster funding for his nutrition, although his mind finished processing what was said about the coffee itself before he could really express any amount of disbelief at the former.

“What do you mean ‘instant’? Are the beans already ground or something?”

Hinata blinked. “Coffee’s made of beans?”

Oikawa sighed heavily and drew up to his full height, holding the coffee container skyward as a few girls approached for their hosting appointment.

“Alright, you know what? I’m up for a challenge! I’m going to try some commoner’s coffee!”

The girls in the clubroom gave shrieks of surprise, Oikawa’s announcement drawing the attention of the entire room. Hinata longingly and despondently stared outside at the people running around the track and beginning practices for their various sports, allowing himself to be dragged away by the club president.

“Darn rich people,” he mumbled.

•

Oikawa was very clingy, Hinata found. Every spare second he had at the club was spent with the other nearby, coddling him and encouraging him to learn up close. It was so draining that the Miya Twins and the Fraternals dragging him into their games was infinitely more appealing, but that could also be his bias for Bokuto coming into play. 

Kuroo was cool, too, yes, and the Miya Twins gave him food, but Bokuto’s energy was so perfectly aligned with his that Kuroo whined about his brother being snatched away on multiple occasions.

This time, with Oikawa monologuing as dramatically as ever, Hinata had no sets of twins to free him from the absolutely boring speech. He spaced out so hard, he didn’t notice Oikawa coming closer and hugging him to his chest excitedly. 

He shouted, the fright sending tears into his eyes, and he reached desperately at the tall trio nearby. “Help!”

All three of them instinctively drew closer, but it was the white-haired eyebrowless one who pulled him out of Oikawa’s grasp by the armpits, Hinata’s legs dangling in the air while the brunette sat stupefied. 

“A-Aone-kun, you didn’t have to go so far...” Oikawa tried.

Hinata smiled at Aone in thanks and patted his head gently to express further gratitude. Whence he was placed down, Aone bowed to him, and he bowed back.

•

Nishinoya was a very fun person to be around, although their interactions were sparse. He shone under the attention from the girls, and if Hinata didn’t know the girls were paying for his time, he’d have assumed the reverse was true. But it made sense, you know, since Noya-san was just such a cool dude.

The girls cooed at him and giggled at his jokes, and his dorky personality coupled with his small-but-wild looks made him a charmer. He also offered Hinata cake on a frequent basis, and often accosted the others to make sure they ate up--especially Tsukishima, who seemed prickly enough that Hinata didn’t want to get near him with a ten foot pole. 

Unfortunately, Tsukishima was also the one mostly in charge of handling his debt, so he could not actually be avoided. Hinata was assured by Akaashi that he’d remove any undue charges Tsukishima would add to the debt, although Hinata would’ve preferred he hadn’t said anything about those undue charges and just did the removals with Hinata none-the-wiser, as then he wouldn’t be paranoid about the things Tsukishima would charge him for.

•

Hinata hadn’t meant to attract the attention of one of Oikawa’s most attached clients. She gave off a weird vibe and when he mentioned her to Yachi, the blonde girl went a little paler than usual (which, while a frequent occurrence, didn’t fail to raise alarm bells in the redhead’s mind). 

“She’s territorial,” Yachi managed, eventually, and Hinata had to go through all of the lessons the girl kindly drilled into his head in order to remember what that word meant. 

“Oh. So why would she be interested in a guy at a host club? Isn’t he, like, one step from prostitution?” Yachi choked at that, shaking her head to fight down any amusement.

“I don’t think she thinks those other girls are a threat.” 

Hinata hummed, “Well, she keeps glaring at me, so maybe she’s just a little dumb and confused.”

Yachi pursed her lips, barely able to keep her laughter contained.

•

Hinata wondered why Yachi’s schoolbag was tossed into the pond. Alongside it sat his, and as he began running through the halls to go attend to the issue, he spotted that client. 

Hinata quite pointedly ignored her, continuing down the halls and stairs. He felt a small flame of rage light up in his chest at seeing Yachi’s notebooks scattered across the surface of the water, covers just buoyant enough that the papers were only starting to soak in water, and he prioritized getting her items out and organized before he could even ponder grabbing his own. 

He’d been in the pond for twenty minutes, thankfully having managed to salvage most of her things, before a voice broke through the quiet of the grounds. “What are you doing?”

Hinata didn’t need to glance over his shoulder to know it was Oikawa, his voice light and airy, with a hint of playful exasperation. 

“I can’t find my wallet.”

“You’ll get sick with your clothes all wet. Can’t you just let it be?”

Oikawa didn’t seem to understand the necessity of what he’d likely consider pocket change. “I need the money for food. I’m not going to get paid for a couple days and I don’t want to starve in the meantime.”

There was a lengthy period of silence. He wondered if Oikawa left, trying desperately to make out the shape of his coin pouch amidst the colorful pebbles lining the bottom of the pond. He nearly growled in frustration as a series of ripples tore through surface, though as he heard the telltale sound of someone wading through water, he spotted the brunette with his pants rolled up and bare feet gingerly resting on the stone. 

“What are you doing?” Hinata quarried, eyebrows drawn up in confusion. 

Oikawa’s face was concentrated yet somewhat peaceful as he copied Hinata’s searching motions, fingers gliding across the smooth pebbles. A few strands of hair caught the water and were left with shimmering drips that occasionally fell back into the pond. 

“I’m helping.”

He never turned to look away from the bottom, focused mostly on the task at hand. Even his distant, deeper, and yet airier voice conveyed how little attention he was giving his words, and Hinata could only wonder if this was the most genuine he’d ever heard the other in their past week of interactions.

“Why?”

“Well, why not? I mean, everyone tells me I’m dripping with good looks,” he chuckled, the breathy quality sending something through Hinata that made him duck his head down and resume seeking his funds.

The two sought it out for over ten minutes before getting any results. The small coin purse, shaped like a small black crow, sat cradled in Oikawa’s palm. He proffered the item to Hinata with a wink, the redhead unclasping it and sighing in relief at the dryness of its interior.

“Thanks, Grand King.”

As Hinata beamed up at the other, the reflected light from the water seemed to hit Oikawa’s eyes harder, as though a flare traveled across the distance between the earth and the sun solely for this moment. He held up a peace sign and smiled back at the other, wondering if such luminance could ever be reproduced. 

(If it could, then he’d love to bottle some up and save it for a rainy day, but maybe there was a hint of greed in that thought.)

•

“Oh, dear, I can’t believe someone would do such a thing!” the client across from him cooed. Her face tilted down a bit, and shadows draped across her eyes and cheeks. “Still, I can’t believe you got Tooru to scrape through that filthy pond for you. He always has been excessively charitable.”

“Yeah,” Hinata mumbled, stuffing a bite of cake into his mouth. The sweetness was significantly dampened by the presence of the girl. What was her name, again? His focus shifted to trying to recall it.

“I couldn’t imagine having so little shame that I’d be a charity case, though. I mean, doesn’t it embarrass you to have Tooru waiting on you hand and foot?”

Yachi, who’d been standing just within earshot, turned to their conversation just then, a disgruntled look on her face. Despite the anxiety that spread quivers across her body from her sternum, she frowned heavily and managed to inquire, "Aren’t you just jealous?”

Something flashed across the clients face then: anger, most likely. Hinata was drawn out of his attempt at recollection by her hand shooting across the table to yank him over to her, a scream escaping her as they toppled to the ground. Teapots and cups burst apart upon contact with the pink tiles, some of the tea soaking into the knees of his gifted uniform pants as it puddled.

Hinata’s palms and wrists ached from the way they slammed against the floor, on either side of the client’s head. People were quick to crowd them, murmuring and gazing in horror. 

“Help!” she cried, “He attacked me! He just jumped across the table, I--” she scooted out from under him, and he slowly sat back on his haunches before accidentally falling onto his bottom. The discomfort of his soaked clothing did little to distract him from the confusion welling within. 

She crawled over to Oikawa whence the brunette stepped closer to the scene. He was the first one over, ever keen regarding the club’s new pet, but only after surveying the situation did he close the distance. 

Her fingers clutched at Oikawa’s pant leg, creasing the fabric as she shivered with tears in her eyes. Hinata’s jaw was slack. Did he do something? Did he try to do anything to her while he was spaced out? He was sure she pulled him, but should he have been expecting such a thing and made to avoid it?

He slowly turned his eyes over to Yachi, whose face was creased in an anger he’d never quite seen before. Her meekness took a sideline to the frustration and disbelief drawing together her brows and tugging her lips downwards. 

“Tooru, please, you have to do something. He was like an animal, I--”

Her desperate face fell into shock as warm water rushed across her face and scalp, soaking the top of her uniform dress. Her panting became a squeaking staccato, and she blinked as her brows drew up steadily. 

“Tooru?” she whispered, before whipping her head around to the Miya Twins, who glared down at her, unimpressed. “What are you doing? Didn’t you hear me?! I--”

“God, you pigs sure like to squeal, don’tcha.”

Osamu glanced down at the jug in his grasp. “I oughtta grab another one at this rate.”

“Why did you--” Hinata startled as Yachi stepped in front of him. 

“You pulled him to you! I saw it! You were envious that he got Oikawa-san’s attention and tried to frame him!” she blurted. 

More whispers and gasps spread across their audience easily. Oikawa’s face was steely and impassive as the client stared up at him with a cocktail of hurt and anger. “You can’t believe her, Tooru, I--”

“You really are beautiful,” Oikawa interrupted, his fingers gliding under her chin.  “But nothing more than that. It seems you’re not classy enough for our club, my dear, and so I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks, Hinata’s heart clenching with a mild bit of sympathy, before she got to her feet and took off, her broken shout of, “Tooru, you idiot--!” echoing through the clubroom.

“I’m sorry, ladies; regrettably, we’ll have to cut our time short for today.” Tsukishima said with his paper-thin smile. It dropped as Akaashi continued for him,

“All of you will receive a full refund of the costs for today’s appointments. You can also use those same funds to reschedule, if you’d like to. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience.”

The girls cooed and cheered, and Tsukishima barely kept his frown from forming.

Eventually the clients filed out of the clubroom, exclaiming their farewells to the hosts. Hinata and Yachi silently stared after them, not wanting to look back to the hosts surrounding them.

“So, what should I do about you?” Oikawa said, drawing Hinata’s reluctant attention. The appraising look and grasp of his own chin were not reassuring at all; Hinata and Yachi glanced at each other and gulped. “Hmm, Tsukki-chan?”

“Don’t call me that,” the bespectacled blonde groused, before pushing up his glasses and smirking. “Since our guests had to leave and receive refunds, our profits for today are at a zero. And because of the drama earlier, we have a few broken teapots and cups from one of our specialty sets, as well as a table that needs to be repaired. To make up for all the damages and overall loss... Akaashi?”

The ravenette typed into a calculator quickly. Bokuto hid behind a sinisterly-grinning Kuroo with his fingers half-heartedly covering his eyes from fear of Akaashi. Akaashi presented the calculator screen within a second.

“Approximately one hundred thousand yen.”

“H-Hundred...”

“Thou...-sand...” Yachi’s eyes swam. Hinata caught her as she half-fainted, both of them shaking with tears welling in their eyes.

“That’ll be added onto your debt, you two. You’d better hope one of your descendents pays it off.” Tsukishima’s smirk shaved additional years off their lives, and Hinata had to pull Yachi’s soul back from the air to shove it back into her body. 

“Darn rich people,” he whined. Kuroo cackled.

••

That was fun ngl. Like, some things go slightly different than in OHSHC, but overall it has some of the same vibes I think

I feel like Bokuto and Akaashi as Honey and Mori respectively would be funnily fitting despite the roles I have them in here, but I think I’m gonna be fluid and loosey-goosey about who is which OHSHC character most of the time (since Noya isn’t entirely Honey-like and there are lots of people who can fit different roles). Kenma and/or Kuroo can fit Kyoya and Tamaki roles too, now that I think about it. Damn this show for having so many characters.

Also this is a nightmare to tag since a lot of characters have multiple spellings for their names and there are so many characters. Heck, that’s why I wrote all the ships at the top!

Anyway, I hope y’all liked it! Might write more if asked 

Also, should I cross-post some of this to Ao3? 

[arigatouiris]

i’ll remember you // kuroo tetsuroo (3/3)

Author’s Note: The last chapter! Ummm so I’m a bit worried about publishing on here... It’s a bit demotivating that I don’t hear from people anymore? I mean, I know that this is asking a lot but I’d really, really appreciate it if you guys would tell me if you liked this? I haven’t seen anything like it being written and thought it’d be cool to write it, so... Just drop in a comment or an ask and let me know your thoughts? I’d greatly appreciate it!

Word count: 4k+

Pairing: Kuroo Tetsuroo x Reader [Kimi no Na Wa re-write]

Summary: Everything had been perfectly normal until you woke up as a volleyball captain from a school you didn’t go to, in a city you didn’t live in. Ever since then, Kuroo Tetsuroo has been inching closer and closer into your life, wrecking almost everything that could perhaps be considered normal.

However, you never realized how vital he was to you; because you were sure you would understand upon seeing him.The struggle however, was remembering each other. Because what good would it do if you went to saw him and he didn’t remember you?

Well, the universe turns back time, of course. Until he did.

Warnings: angst, body-swapping, bullying, fantasy, reader is depressed, mentions of suicide, character death, slow burn, bittersweet end, awkward boners, mentions of porn

ｃｈ． ０３ — ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ ｙｏｕ

Kuroo found the note you had written and kept beneath a couple of books. Having arranged everything so neatly. All the anger he had dissipated instantly, and the call with Kenma ended, the note did a great deal to bring his attention to where he needed it the most.

You.

A couple of months passed with the random swapping happening on days no one really predicted. He left angry notes behind whenever you'd done something stupid to embarrass him or scored low on a math test one day; and you'd leave silly notes suggesting that he cut his hair or you'll do it for him, on how you were slowly picking up volleyball and you might possibly have a crush on Yaku. Kuroo would respond with 'Don't touch Yaku', and looked forward to swapping bodies with you more, because somewhere down the line, not only was it to help you, but it was also helping him.

He could feel himself getting closer to his own father, which was rather strange. Their conversations didn't change, but Kuroo didn't complain about toast for breakfast, and even sometimes bothered to make his own. You, on the other hand, had wonderful conversations with your mother, and the cleared desk remained clear. You paid more attention to keeping your hair soft, drinking more water, and spending more time with Naru; sometimes, you'd play with Takeru, teaching him volleyball and seeing that he actually enjoyed the sport. Your slow communication with Kuroo stopped making you feel crippled, as a matter of fact, Kuroo became a part of your routine.

Some mornings after the swap, you'd wake up with a smile on your face; and your first thought would be Kuroo. It was strange, you'd not even met the boy but lately, he was all you could think of. The swaps were getting more and more regular, and you'd see sweet notes scribbled all over your book — 'Why aren't you dating anyone? Want tips?' You rolled your eyes, knowing full well that Kuroo himself was a bit awkward with girls.

You desperately wanted to see how he was in real life, where you were not being him. You wanted to learn how his voice felt against your eardrums, how his fingers might feel when they ruffled your hair; small interactions were all you craved for, and never before had you ever felt like this for someone you had never met.

Kuroo, on the other hand, knew full well that he was straight out in love with you. It didn't take him long to fall for someone, and while he knew his feelings for you were weird, he also didn't forget that you were dead in the present timeline.

He would wake up some mornings with a note on his face that had sweet little things written like, 'Good morning, Kuroo-kun! I took the liberty to iron your uniform today seeing how you had crumpled mine so brilliantly!' He chuckled before feeling his heart race a bit at the work you had done. He knew you were a year younger, but you were a pro-note taker, and your notes had saved him a lot of time for missing these classes.

But with each passing note, each passing swap day, Kuroo's dread slowly increased. You were going to die and he had no clue how to stop it. He wondered what was even causing the swaps with him in the first place. Did he have a significant role to play here?

Perhaps, there was something that was telling him that the swapping was more than just random. With your second note, he had invariably understood a part of you that you apparently didn't often show to others; not that there were a lot of others, to begin with. He wondered how you'd take the change of dialogue he had with your mother, and about cleaning your desk—he wondered why you hadn't done it yourself in the first place. Perhaps, it was a part of you that he deeply wanted to understand, and for that, maybe, living in your skin may help him. However, he needed to know more.

First, he needed to find what happened to your mother. What kind of accident was it that had taken her life? And what happened to Takeru? From what he heard, your aunt had moved houses after your death, which meant that he might have at least seen a kid if there was one. Takeru was nowhere near you when you had moved to Tokyo, which meant that he was somewhere else.

He didn't know why the first person he thought of asking was his grandfather. His grandfather was a renowned gossip, and he hoped to find some sort of answer through the old man. It was thankfully a weekend right then, and ignoring the hordes of messages that Bokuto was sending him about his 'amazing performance' the previous day, Kuroo felt determined to get this over with.

He found his grandmother watching something on the iPad, and his grandfather was sitting in front of the television. He knew his father was out working, so this gave him ample time to bother his grandfather with useless questions.

Apparently useless questions.

    "Yo, ji-chan," Kuroo's grandfather greeted him with a killer smile, "You heard about the girl (s/n) (y/n) from across the road? The one that...died."

His grandfather nodded before humming, "Poor girl. She moved here for school after her mother and brother passed in an accident. They're from a port town, see. They used to harvest salt."

He knew that much, and his heart hurt from thinking of Takeru also passing away. The boy was barely 8 years old.

    "Know anything else? What kind of accident was it?"

    "You seem quite interested in this. Did you know (y/n)-chan?"

Kuroo smiled bitterly, "In a way, ji-chan."

    "I'm sorry to hear that, Tetsu-chan," His grandfather's voice made him feel worse, "(y/n)-chan took her own life because there was no one else left for her. It's truly sad to see young people take their lives. Her aunt wasn't of any help. Made her dream of a good life in Tokyo and brought her here and just... paid no attention to her."

    "Didn't she go to school?"

    "She went to your school, Tetsu-chan, didn't you know that already?"

Kuroo's heart dropped. What the fuck? He felt a cold sweat rushing over his features. Suddenly, he felt as if he was walking toward something that he should actually be running away from. You were in his school? That meant... That meant it had been three whole months since you had been here and he didn't even know. By now, Kuroo had assessed what would cause everything to topple over.

He had to stop your mother's accident. Somehow, he had to reach you. He had to find out what happened to your mother and brother, and stop the accident from happening. And if that happened, you'd continue to live there. You'd continue to live and you'd grow up happy.

If you came to Tokyo, you'd die.

    "Her mother and brother were on a boat, Tetsu-chan," His grandfather's words alerted him from his stupor, "They were returning home after a ferry ride to a museum. It was the boy's birthday."

That was good. This was good enough. He knew when it would happen, and if he could just swap into your body before then, if only he'd be able to choose willingly when the swap could happen, Kuroo wouldn't have to live with the morbid anxiety bubbling in his chest. He rushed outside, ignoring his grandfather's wishes for him to go brush his teeth, and ran to Kenma's door.

    "Kenma! Kenma! Kenma—"

The door opened, revealing a rather annoyed looking Kenma.

    "I'm starting to prefer (s/n) over you."

    "Need to talk. It's important."

Both of them sat behind Kenma's house, the same place they had started to play volleyball for the first time, a long time ago.

    "Did you know she went to our school?"

Kenma blinked before turning to Kuroo with a surprised look. Kuroo merely nodded with a bitter expression on his face.

    "Her mother and brother die in a boating accident. On her brother's birthday. She moves here and... for three whole goddamn months she's here and we don't... we don't know."

    "Kuroo, you can't blame yourself for this—"

    "It's repeating all over again. She just died and I couldn't—"

    "It's stupid if you think you could have saved her," Kuroo almost winced at how cold Kenma's voice was, "But, you can save her now. So, just don't mess it up."

    "I need to go see her."

    "You know that she won't be there."

    "Maybe, there's some sort of hill like in the movie—"

    "Highly unlikely."

    "Well, this fucking seems highly unlikely too, doesn't it?!" Kuroo yelled, feeling his heart rate increase, "Me swapping bodies with a girl that's dead!?"

Kenma sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, "Maybe, the next time you swap, try to figure out when her brother's birthday is and ensure her mom and brother don't go out. That should do it."

    "Why was she not on the boat with them?" Kuroo asked, confusedly.

Kenma shrugged. "Maybe, she was somewhere else?"

    "Where could she have gone?"

    "Maybe, it has more to do with her relationship with her family?"

    "Hm, yeah... I mean, it is pretty strained. But, I did something. I apologized to her mother after learning that she fought the night before the swap."

Kenma's eyes widened.

    "What?"

    "She did the same for you."

Kuroo paused a bit before narrowing his eyes. She did what?

    "Your dad was telling her, I mean you, about how you blame yourself for... you know."

    "Ah, fuck!" Kuroo groaned before scratching his head with both his hands. "Why can't she not meddle—"

    "What are you doing to tell her that?"

    "Well, I'm trying to save her life—"

    "She doesn't know that."

Kuroo let out a breath. Kenma moved away from him as he stood up.

    "Go brush your teeth, Kuroo."

Several thoughts flooded into his mind. Why was it Kuroo's body that you swapped with? In the movie, Mitsuha swapped with Taki because she dreamed of being a boy in Tokyo. Did you want the same thing? Did you by any chance meet Kuroo somewhere in the past and he had failed to recognize you? Were you some girl on a train that he had met and had forgotten about? Did something happen in the past year that he can't remember, and had invariably changed your life so much that it ended everything?

Why was it him?

Throughout the next month, Kuroo desperately waited to swap bodies with you. He tried to recreate your face in his mind repeatedly, not wanting to forget about you, and this latent obsession that he had with you was starting to get Kenma worried. Without even having met you, he started to miss you, he wanted to see you, communicate with you, but how could he communicate with someone from a year ago?

He wondered what would happen if he went to you.

He knew the name of your high school, and he knew that Naru would be someone he could contact right now. Naru would be in her final year of high school, which meant that meeting Naru could give him an idea of what had happened with you. Desperately wanting answers, he knew there was only one way to get them. He had to go to you, even if you weren't there.

Rushing to his bathroom, he quickly brushed his teeth before running over to his laptop and opening his screen. He took a deep breath before clicking on Goto Islands, the largest island being Fukue. He knew that finding Naru would mean he could find where you lived, and if that happens, then perhaps he could understand what had actually happened. He had to get to Hanada Airport terminal and then take a flight to Fukue, which would take him around 3 hours. Reaching Hanada would take him an hour, so he knew he had to leave immediately. Shooting Kenma a message of what he was going to do, Kuroo decided that he had to meet Naru; the anticipation of the entire ordeal was killing him. If fate decided you deserved a second chance, he did not want to mess it up.

On reaching Hanada airport terminal 1, Kenma called him.

    "What are you doing? Kuroo, she's not—"

    "I'm going to meet her friend, Naru. Maybe, she knows what happened. If I know what happened, then maybe I can stop it."

Kenma didn't say a word, "I hope you know what you're doing, Kuroo. I seriously don't think this is anything like Kimi no Na Wa."

    "Yeah, well," Kuroo grinned, "I think I can't let go of my soulmate so easily, right?"

He could hear Kenma scoff, "You're such a sap."

    "Maybe, there's a red string connecting our pinky fingers across time."

    "Good luck, Kuroo."

Kuroo smiled before putting his phone inside his pocket, his heart racing as he headed inside the airplane that would take him to Fukue island. On reaching Fukue, he knew he had to take a taxi to the mainland, but the area was almost barren. Kuroo blinked a couple of times before turning to the left, finding a lone man standing there.

    "Uh, if I want to get a taxi, where should I go?"

    "Ya wait."

Kuroo felt a cold sweat hit him now. He couldn't wait. The more time he spent here, the closer you inched toward death, and he didn't want that to happen. Letting out a breath, Kuroo walked forward, hoping his memories would be enough to let him know where to go. Maybe, he'd spot something familiar, something that would let him guide himself to your old home.

However, luck was on his side, a taxi paused by him and he could finally get to the school because he knew that was his best bet at finding your house. Ten minutes later, Kuroo ran toward your old home, ignoring the looks he was getting from the people around him. His legs carried him faster than ever before, and he quickly came to a halt before his eyes fell on a familiar brown-haired girl, taking out the trash. The time was close to 5 p.m. and Kuroo's heart raced at the sight of the hyperactive Kotoishi girl.

He walked over to her and the height difference made him want to laugh. (y/n) was almost as tall as her, but right then, Naru was shorter than Kenma was.

Naru looked up and her eyes widened, before a faint recognition hit her pupils.

    "Yer the boy, aren't ya?"

Kuroo felt his heart constrict at how mellow Naru sounded. He nodded, because what else could he do?

    "Ya remembered," Naru said, smiling bitterly at him, "But a bit too late."

    "I can still save her."

Naru blinked, "How?"

    "Explaining will take a lot of time, Naru-chan," Kuroo said, rubbing the back of his neck, "Can you take me to her old home?"

Naru nodded and walked him there. However, she knew that he probably remembered the route, considering he had lived as her best friend on multiple occasions. Turning to the taller male, Naru hummed.

    "Yer quite handsome, aren'tcha?"

Kuroo chuckled, "Thank you. I wanted to ask you a few things, actually."

    "Not surprised. Shoot."

    "What...happened?"

They paused in front of your old home and Naru pressed her lips together. It wasn't easy for her to recollect what had happened to you or your family, but she was dreading this day. The day when the boy her best friend's body was occupied by would come and grace her with his presence. It confused her that he came a year too late, but perhaps, magical things in the world worked in a way no one could properly identify.

    "She wasn't really close with 'er mom. She forgot that it was Take-chan's birthday, and that 'er mom and 'im were gonna go check out the museum."

    "Where was she?"

Naru gave Kuroo a smile that could have broken his heart. That one smile made him understand that this was where he would come in.

    "She went to see you."

*

    "I have to go see him, Naru!"

Naru hummed before rolling her eyes, "Yer deeply in love with a boy you've never met."

    "But, I've lived as him. I think I can guide myself to his house and just... tell him! Besides, he knows me too. We've been sharin' notes."

    "But, there's no guarantee that it is him, right?"

    "Of course there is, who else is a Kuroo Tetsuroo from Nekoma, volleyball captain, bed-haired handsome dork?" You giggled at your own words.

    "Just hope ya know what yer doin'." Naru said, narrowing her eyebrows.

You nodded before letting out a breath. "I've booked my tickets to Tokyo too. I land in Hanada and I should probably take a train to Nekoma. I know my way from there."

    "Aren'tcha forgettin' somethin' 'bout tomorrow, though?" Naru asked, pressing a finger to her chin.

    "What could I possibly be forgettin'?"

The next morning, you left quietly and quickly. You hadn't told your mother that you were going to Tokyo, you knew she'd not let you, either way. It felt as if you were doing something daring for the first time; wanting to go to Tokyo as you and no one else. Half of you was excited to see the boy you liked, but the other half was just excited to do something like this for the first time. Your hair felt lighter than ever, your skin was practically glowing and your heart was racing; you were not hoping that Kuroo would return your feelings, though some part of you thought he did, the experience of it all made you feel almost overwhelmed with joy.

On reaching Hanada terminal 1, your first reaction was to take a deep breath. It was a school-day, and you knew how your mother felt about you missing school, but that wasn't what ran in your mind right then. You were going to meet someone that had invariably changed your life; that had been such a big part of how you could transform into a more confident individual—and this was everything you were waiting for, even before you knew you had waited for it.

On entering the train to the station closest to Nekoma, you felt like the crowds were suffocating you, but every pore in your body seemed to breathe oxygen right then and you felt like your lungs were full of air. The happiness that was coursing through your veins was enough to keep you pumped.

I have to change trains now, you thought before opting to get out, but a familiar mop of a bed head froze you to your spot. You were almost out of the train, the pack of people pouring in made it hard for you to keep your standing, but you had seen him— bed hair and gold eyes—entering the train you were in from your right. Instantly, you moved through the crowd to grab his wrist, wanting nothing more than to press yourself to him and to scream his name, but—

What was his name?

Your eyes widened as he turned to look at you, gold eyes penetrating into your (e/c) ones. He blinked questioningly, clearly confused by your sudden appearance.

    "Do I know you?"

You gasped, what was his name? Why couldn't you remember his name?

    "Ah, it's... It's... I'm sorry."

You were pushed out of the train and the doors closed; you kept your eyes fixed on the boy's from outside, and his eyes found yours, but there was not even a hint of recognition there. Suddenly, you had no idea what you were doing in Tokyo. All the hope had exited your body in a matter of seconds, it was merely a byproduct of having a delusion embedded into your psyche as hope; which it wasn't at all. Tears filled your eyes as you shut them, letting your tears fall straight from them.

You do not know how long you stood there before you got the call from Naru. The call that had changed your life.

*

    "I... I met her." Kuroo said, his eyes widening as realization sunk in.

It was a meager moment, a moment so easily forgotten. It felt as if he was crossfading into time right then, every inch of his being became a burden. How was he to remember you when he hadn't met you? Why was fate playing with him the way it was?

It didn't make sense.

    "She came back after I'd called her. She never really forgave herself for it."

    "When was..." Kuroo cleared his throat, "When is the..."

He couldn't bring himself to say 'anniversary of death'. Naru, however, was the smartest person he knew.

    "In two days. The 13th of November. Also," Kuroo turned to her with dead eyes, "You'd once told me that somethin' was gonna happen to her. This means that the future-you didn't remember 'er or didn't come 'ere and that's why she died in the present timeline. If she's gonna live in the past timeline, and if that has to merge into the present, then you have to do somethin' you didn't do before."

It took him a couple of seconds to understand her. Naru smiled before punching his chest.

    "Try talkin' to her now or somethin'. Happens in the movie, donnit?"

    "Where's... Where's her grave?"

Naru led Kuroo to the gravesite before walking away, knowing he had to stay there for a few moments. Kuroo's heart broke at the sight of your grave, right beside your mother and brother's, and tears instantly filled his eyes. He’d always secretly believed that a love as fierce and true as his would be rewarded in the end, and now Kuroo was being forced to accept the bitter truth. You were dead; no matter what he did, what he would do, you would try looking for him at the wrong time, and he would permanently lose you.

The sky was strangely painted orange that evening. An orange blended with hues of pink and purple, scattering above him in a colorful dance that screamed joy—as if to laugh at his misery. The skies were radiant as his heart broke, and for the life of him, Kuroo couldn't understand how the universe had so gladly failed him.

    "Fuck," He uttered before wiping the tears that fell from his eyes, "I wish I could have saved you. I wish I'd remembered you. Somehow, anyhow. I wish I could have saved you. Fuck, this is killing me."

The time was 6:14 p.m. Suggested time for twilight was ten minutes from then. Kuroo had been here before but had left two minutes early. Perhaps, it was by chance that he stayed this time. Perhaps, the universe wanted a different end. No one can really say what these things were. They just happen.

You had made a wish right before closing your eyes for the last time.

I wish the next time he sees me, he'll remember me.

Perhaps, someone in the universe who could make a difference had heard your plea. Perhaps, someone just wanted to see what would happen if two parallels were connected for the first time. As impossible as it sounded, Kuroo had made it possible by staying there longer than any of his future forms had ever done. Those two minutes made all the difference.

Just before twilight, he shut his eyes for a couple of minutes; before reopening them as you.

He let out a gasp before feeling his heartbeat accelerate. A moment ago, he was at the graveyard, mourning for you, but right now, he was in your skin.

   "Take-chan," He called out, "What day is it?"

   "It's the 13th. Two days to my birthday!"

Where the hell is she? He thought before running to where the graveyard was, ignoring your brother's pleas. 13th November. 13th November. Two days before your brother's birthday. He could spot the graveyard from a distance and his heart skipped several beats on seeing himself there. Tears filled his eyes before rushing over to hug him, knowing full well who was inside.

Swap.

Kuroo opened his eyes and spotted your form, hugging him, crying into his chest. You were sobbing, and Kuroo could feel his own eyes burn with tears. Quickly grabbing your cheek, Kuroo leaned down and pressed his lips to yours, not wanting to waste what time was given to him. He could feel you practically shake under his hold, and he knew that this was perhaps the magic of twilight that the movie had spoken about. He didn't have to look upward to see how the orange sky now seamlessly made so much more sense to him. The pinks and the purples, the hues scattering above him in that same radiant dance that welled his heart with inexplicable joy and hope.

    "Tetsu-kun!"

    "(y/n)-chan." He said so fondly, he felt his heartbreaking.

    "I was going to come to see you... In two days, I've booked—"

Kuroo shook his head vehemently, "Please, please don't. Listen to me, it's your brother's birthday on the 13th. Don't go anywhere. It's going to rain, it's going to," He was taking deep breaths now, "Stay indoors, you hear me?"

    "I love you." You said, tears leaking down your eyes.

Kuroo nodded, his hands pressing your cheeks as if his life depended on this very moment, "I love you too, (y/n)-chan, just promise me. Promise me you'll live through this and come see me."

You nodded, "I promise. I'll come to see you—"Your eyes widened, "I... I can't remember your name, please—"

    "My name is Kuroo Tetsuroo."

    "My name is (y/n)—"

Kuroo pulled your hand out and kissed firmly on the back of it. You mentally repeated his name countless times before it slipped your consciousness effortlessly. You were sobbing now, at how you knew you loved his boy but couldn't for the life of you remember who he was.

    "You..." Kuroo could feel his own memories of you vanish, "I'll remember you."

    "I love you so much!"

Kuroo leaned down to kiss you once more, his hands gripping your hair tightly. You kissed back, but a second later—

—you were gone.

*

The day when the sky turned various shades of orange, it was almost as if a scene from a dream; it was a beautiful view.

Once in a while, when Kuroo woke up, he finds himself crying. The dream he must have had he can never recall. But, there was a sensation that he had lost something, and it lingered long after he had woken up.

Working for Japan's Volleyball Association was a task—especially after Hinata was signed into the MSBY Jackals. He knew had to head over and meet the orange-haired runt the next day, but Kuroo believed he'd take his time. It was the weekend after all. Scratching his butt, he ignored Kenma's message before grabbing his coat and walking to the nearest 7/Eleven.

Kuroo's eyes linger for a second longer on the back of his palm before brushing it off and walking out of his house. He had long moved out of his father's home but managed to visit every once in a while. The first time Kuroo had beer with his father, he pictured how far he'd come, how difficult it used to be for him even to look his dad in the eye. Now, after having blamed himself for his mother's death during his teen years, Kuroo could safely say he had put it all behind him.

My name is—

Walking into the store, he noticed a bike waiting outside, not having been locked. He chuckled at the kid's carelessness before heading in to buy that morning's breakfast.

    "Nee-chan, we can get fried chicken for lunch!"

    "Take-chan, are you sure you can be eating such things being a volleyball player?"

Kuroo froze. He gulped but suddenly felt something pricking the back of his throat, making it almost impossible for him to swallow. Slowly, he turned to spot you and your brother, your backs facing him, as you picked out some packed lunches in the frozen section. Suddenly, your brother winced before running outside, muttering how he had forgotten to lock the bike.

Kuroo's heart pounded in his chest as he approached you, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. You looked like he had remembered, but he couldn't place from where. Your hair was longer, a soft blue cardigan adorned your figure, and blue jeans—you were still shorter, but he couldn't remember from when.

My name is (y—

    "Uh," He took a deep breath before noticing you turned to face him, "I know this is a strange question but..."

Your eyes widened upon noticing him. A lone tear fell from your left eye the longer you stared before your mind screamed at you.

My name is K—

    "Have we met before?" You sounded almost desperate, your heart raging inside your ribcage.

And in that second, Kuroo had remembered you.

[jui-imouto-chan]

Part 9

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@multishipper-trash

I switched to calling him Shoyo since everyone except Kageyama calls him that but I’ll probably go back to Hinata in a different part (also bc Natsu is technically a Hinata so)

•

“A letter!!” Natsu announced from the door, her feet slapping against the wood of the stairs as she made her way to Shoyo’s room. “Nii-chan!!

“Coming!”

Natsu bounced on her heels impateintly, listening to the rustle of Shoyo’s sheets. Shoyo yelped and then began hissing something she couldn’t quite make out, and then after a few minutes of relative quiet, Tobio and Shoyo shouted at each other before Tobio stormed out, barging past her without patting her head like usual. Natsu wondered if he had a fever, since his face was the color of steamed crab.

Huh, so did Shoyo. Maybe they were both sick?

“Nii-chan.” She proffered the letter, shifting her weight.

Shoyo shook his head, his flush lightening enough that it only stained his cheeks. “Thanks, Natsu,” he said, smiling as he ruffled her hair. She grinned up at him and turned on her heel, padding over to the kitchen to rattle off what she learned in school the day prior to their mom.

The letter Shoyo held was from the “Kenma” that had made a contract with him the month before, with a simple wax seal of a cat with headphones on. The envelope was crisp and pristine, although the penmanship of the address lines was constantly fluctuating between beautiful and scribbly.

Shoyo glanced around, making sure Kageyama wasn’t nearby, then retreated into his bedroom, ignoring the tangle of sheets that had collapsed to the floor during the earlier...incident... and instead settling into his desk.

‘Hello, Shoyo.

There’s more funding in the envelope inside the one you pulled this out from. Have fun with it, I guess.

I was wondering if you want to meet up with me at some point. I’ll leave my contact stuff at the bottom of this letter... Leave the scary guy you who follows you around at home please. I don’t want to get murdered.

Anyway. We can discuss the details for the date meet and greet when we meet up over text, if you want to actually do that.

Kenma.

XXX-XXX-XXXX’

Shoyo found the wad of bills and decided that he’d make sure ‘Kenma’ would let him pay for food and stuff for when they met up, guilt gnawing at him for taking charity. It wasn’t like he wasn’t giving anything for it, but he didn’t actually feel any difference in his mana supply—not that he could even actually tell that there was mana in him. Maybe the contracts just weren’t taking as much as he thought they would be? —Like everyone taking five yen when he has a billion yen: pretty much negligible. (—Thank you Tsukishima for using that word. Hinata just hoped he wouldn’t use it to describe his test score increases relative to his grade again.)

Shoyo snagged his phone off the nightstand (pointedly ignoring Kageyama’s beside it), tossing himself onto his mattress and kicking his feet as he sent a greeting.

•

Kuroo had himself draped over Kenma’s bed, scrolling idly through messages Lev sent to their groupchat and rolling his eyes. He glanced over at the partial-blonde, who was so close to the TV, Kuroo wondered if he’d eventually pass through the screen and actually enter the game.

Beside his head, Kenma’s phone flashed and pinged, and he’d never seen Kenma move so fast. The game was paused and Kenma was lain beside Kuroo in an instant, his eyes flicking across the screen with overwhelming intensity.

“Did a preorder drop or something?”

Kenma completely ignored him. Kuroo tried to quell his urge to annoy his best friend with dramatics.

The shorter spent five minutes reading whatever message he had received, probably rereading it multiple times if Kuroo were to go off the fact that Kenma hadn’t scrolled.

Finally, after an agonizing period of tense silence, Kenma’s thumbs got to work, typing and retyping words. Kenma mouthed the sentences and scrunched his nose periodically, probably noticing syntax errors.

It was a little bizarre, since Kenma didn’t usually care about what he wrote or how he wrote it. Kuroo once had to read the words “skin $100 said no moth,” with his own eyes, and the message still sometimes haunts him. (Kenma meant to type, “My mother said no to buying the $100 skin,” but didn’t correct himself afterward.)

“Do I add a ‘please’ when saying where to meet me or is that desperate?”

“Do you actually want my opinion or are you talking to yourself?”

Kuroo sighed as Kenma continued his pondering, muttering about lines from a few otome games. Kuroo leaned over and scanned the message, as neither of them had ever been particular about privacy, biting his lip to keep from laughing.

“Hey,” Kenma snapped, falling out of his deliberations. He rolled over and away, which led to him slipping to the floor.

Kuroo burst into cackles, only catching his breath after Kenma tossed a remote at his head. “W... Who’s got ya all riled u-up?” he tried to inquire, panting.

“None of your business.”

“Is ‘Shoyo’ a special friend I should know about?” Kuroo waggled his eyes, dodging an amiibo that sailed through the air and left a noticeable dent in Kenma’s wall.

“N-No.”

It was quite clear that Kuroo did not believe him one bit, his Hyena-like laughter rippling through the air. “You’re lying—your ears are red! Your blushing so hard!”

“Shut up!” Kenma hid under the covers at the foot of the bed, trying to look back at his phone. Kuroo, deciding that he was fine with dying there, poked at Kenma’s head, seeking amusement from teasing the half-blonde.

“Huh?” Kenma was stock-still, not even moving when Kuroo prodded at him. “Kenma, you okay? Are you dead?” The blankets were raised, Kuroo peering upside-down at his friend.

Dead seemed like an understatement—after all, at least then you would see the life draining out of the body. No, Kenma appeared as though his soul was sucked out with a vacuum and his body sat empty while his spirit struggled against the vacuum bag.

Kuroo snatched Kenma’s phone out of his hands, his friend not twitching or reacting at all. The only indication that Kenma was still existent was the slow paling of his skin.

“What’s got you so.... Oh. Well... Yep, that’ll do it.”

The last line of his message, which he probably was intending to delete—or at least rewrite—simply read, ‘I look forward to our date.’

•

“He won’t think that you wanted it to be a date if I come,” Kuroo explained as he shoved Kenma toward the cafe, still quite sympathetic of his poor friend’s pain. Kenma had his hood pulled up and kinda seemed tempted to drift into traffic, so Kuroo just kept a better hold of his shoulders as he drove him forward.

“Maybe he’ll take pity on me and stab me with a teaspoon.”

“Maybe you’ll be less morbid, how about that?”

“We both know that’s very unlikely.” Kenma managed to open the door before Kuroo flattened him against it.

“True,” he sighed. “So, you see him?”

Kenma glanced around, fingertips rubbing against his nails within his pockets as he sought out Shoyo.

After a moment of peering around, he spotted sunrise eyes and a mane of flame, as well as the scent of full, unfettered magic wafting through the air.

“There,” Kenma breathed as Kuroo straightened, eyes fixating on the summoner. Kuroo whistled to himself.

“I’m counting myself lucky that you’re not territorial.”

Kenma squinted at his best friend, though he let his withering glare fall exasperatedly. “I’m getting there.”

Kuroo’s smile grew with mischief. “Too late.” His tongue slipped across his upper lip.

Across the cafe, Shoyo shivered, glancing around and catching their predatory gazes. Unlike prey, his eyes didn’t waver, and their excitement only grew.

•••

••Part 9 of (?)••

This got a little longer than usual—I got carried away bc I love writing disaster Kenma 😂 and also Natsu is super adorable so I’m including her more 💖💖

•• Send Asks for more! Feel free to ask about characters and send Headcanons! Or if u wanna just talk Haikyuu/ships, I’m good with that too! :) and for other parts, search the “summoner au” tag on my blog and you’ll find em!••

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[arigatouiris]

i’ll remember you // kuroo tetsuroo x reader (1/3)

Author’s Note: I absolutely adore the movie Kimi no Na Wa, and I guess this is a sort of reprised version? Don’t ask me how I got the idea, I have no clue lmao. Just started writing it one day and this is what I came up with. I gave it three parts because the whole thing is quite long. Do tell me what you think! 

Word count: 4243

Pairing: Kuroo Tetsuroo x Reader [Kimi no Na Wa re-write]

Summary: Everything had been perfectly normal until you woke up as a volleyball captain from a school you didn't go to, in a city you didn't live in. Ever since then, Kuroo Tetsuroo has been inching closer and closer into your life, wrecking almost everything that could perhaps be considered normal.

However, you never realized how vital he was to you; because you were sure you would understand upon seeing him.The struggle however, was remembering each other. Because what good would it do if you went to saw him and he didn't remember you? 

Well, the universe turns back time, of course. Until he did.

Warnings: angst, body-swapping, fantasy, reader is depressed, mentions of suicide, character death, slow burn, bittersweet end, awkward boners, mentions of porn

ｃｈ． ０１ — ｃｏｕｎｔｒｙ ｂｕｍｐｋｉｎ

You could not remember how you had fallen asleep last night.

You woke up with a faint stinging in the back of your head as if someone had hit you with a ball. You groaned, but you sounded gruffer than you'd remembered; as if you had an itch in your throat that you couldn't quite clear off. You felt as if your entire body had been stretched out longer than you were and it was strange, it wasn't as if you were injured or anything. You just cried yourself to sleep because you were turned down by the person you had a crush on for quite some time now. Letting out a breath, which you swore sounded like someone else instead, you raised yourself to come face to face with a room you had never seen before.

You could hear vehicles on the road outside, and your eyes narrowed, trying to decipher what was going on. You probably were still dreaming, that's for sure, since the first thing you'd always saw when you woke up was the window right in front of you. Now, there was no window but just a plain grey wall with a poster of a rather weird looking rat-like thing with a robot on its back, and the window instead was near the table with stacks and stacks of books lying on top of it. For a dream, this had way too much detail, but it wasn't as if you could complain. At least you weren't dreaming of Akio-kun, so that was something.

    "What in the world?"

Your eyes widened instantly before your hand went to wrap around your throat; and you let out a squeak, which again, didn't sound like you. Your heart was racing now and you searched for the bathroom in this dream and rushed inside, and your eyes came in contact with one of the most handsome boys you had ever seen. His hair could use a fix-up, but considering how you'd just woken up, you guessed this is how his bed hair looked like. His features were incredibly well-divided, his teeth were perfect, and he was freaking tall.

You were somebody else. Somebody handsome. Your eyes widened before feeling something heavy downward, a strange warmth spread all over your body when you looked down to see something poking out through the boy's underwear. Your face instantly reddened before screaming, not thinking if he lived alone or if his family could hear. You didn't care; you were not this boy, you were in a strange place.

Running back to the room, you tried to look for anything that made sense, anything that could let you know who this person was and how it was that you got here. It had to be a dream, but you had slapped yourself or him enough times to wake up but you were still here. Panic rushed through you, but perhaps it was because this boy didn't have terrible anxiety like you, you could strangely calm yourself down. You found his phone and thank goodness it didn't have a pin, because, for the life of you, you didn't have this boy's memories.

What the heck, you thought, and even your mind voice changed into this boy's voice and it unnerved you. It wasn't as if you never dreamed of something like this, but for it to actually happen in such great detail, it didn't flatter you; it was a big inconvenience. At least I don't have to face Akio-kun, you thought before opening this boy's phone, and learning that he was perhaps an anime fan.

You discovered through his text messages that his name was Kuroo. You were yet to discover his first name, but that was for later. You were in Tokyo, a city far, far away from your own, a city you had never been to but had always wanted to go and live in, and you had discovered that he was the volleyball captain for his school. You remember playing a little bit of volleyball back in middle school, but you were a second-year high school student in Fukue Gakuen, sports weren't as prominent as teasing girls and crushing on boys. You'd learned that Kuroo was best friends with someone named Yaku (or you weren't sure if the members in the group were being sarcastic, for this Yaku person did not even like being addressed in such a way), and there was someone named Kenma. You'd heard of Instagram but students from Fukue generally spent more time gossiping than on their phones, especially with limited internet access.

You guessed things in Tokyo were different since the internet was relatively quite fast here. You clicked on Instagram before thinking you were blessed. You tried as hard as you could to memorize how the volleyball team looked, how Kenma looked, and in each and every one of those pictures, Kuroo himself looked rather dashing, and you wondered if this dream would end soon or not.

    "Tetsu!" An ugly voice rammed itself into the room and you almost dropped your Kuroo's phone.

You turned around to spot a middle-aged man with a stubble, a nasty frown on his face which died down on seeing you there, standing with your phone, in the middle of the room. To whoever this person was, you were Kuroo and you decided to stay mum until he left.

    "Ah, you're awake. Damn, thought you were still asleep," The man rubbed the back of his neck, "You're going to be late for school, moron. Go get ready. And," He cringed before pointing to your pants, "Take care of that, for god's sakes."

Your face reddened before your hands rushed downward, feeling Kuroo's private parts sticking out uncharacteristically. You knew why this happened, and even if you were from the country, that didn't mean you were unaware of the morning wood. You had a friend who'd given you all the unnecessary details, especially when you didn't want it.

    "Uh, so... Who are you?" You asked, taking a risk.

    "Ah?!" The man didn't even look offended, "Your goddamn father, go wash the sleep off your face, Tetsu!"

Oh, so it was his father! You wanted to ask him how to get rid of the morning wood in other easier ways, but you guessed that Kuroo or Tetsu wasn't such a person. You took a breath before heading inside the bathroom to take a shower, hoping it'd eradicate your problem. You were accustomed to calling Tetsu's body as your own now because this was where you were for the time being, and it didn't make sense that you had to correct yourself constantly. You found his uniform sprawled on the nightstand, which made your eyebrow twitch with annoyance; whoever this Kuroo was, he sure as heck didn't care how he looked like. Despite looking like a demigod, you thought before putting on your shoes.

You didn't take a peek at his... private parts. You took a bath with his underwear, trying hard not to drool over how toned his body was. Maybe, he took the whole volleyball thing quite seriously; you'd heard of how Tokyo schools were all about championships and leagues, and the volleyball scene was quite huge in Japan. You managed to change his underwear somehow and put on new ones with your eyes closed and it was then the most important thought, the one you had been sitting on all this while, hit you.

What if he's in my body!?

Your eyes widened and your hands flew to your face, but somehow seeing Kuroo with his hands on his face made you blush harder at how out-of-character it was. You didn't even know who this Kuroo person was, but giving him feminine mannerisms made you feel weird.

He better not have... You thought before feeling uncomfortable, but there was honestly nothing you could do at this point. Perhaps, he was just as weirded out, perhaps, he was just as confused as you were and wouldn't try to do anything stupid.

You didn't know how to get to school, but it was something you knew you'd have to solve. Grabbing everything that he otherwise needed, his wallet, his bag, and a small part of you was excited that you were getting to travel in Tokyo and live a day in Tokyo as someone else. Despite how different it felt. Your heart was pounding in your chest as you walked out of the house, and on your way out, you noticed how the house looked. It was a simple-looking house but the lack of woodwork made your feet feel weird. Kuroo wore indoor slippers, and so did his father, and two others who looked like they were his grandparents. Where's his mother? You thought in Kuroo's voice before noticing his father approach you.

    "Eat," He snapped, "Don't walk out without eating."

    "Okay."

For some reason, Kuroo's father turned and looked at you with a funny expression. He was just as tall as Kuroo, which must have explained where the height came from. You cocked your eyebrow at him, wondering if you had said anything strange, but you were sure you hadn't.

    "We've got toast." The dad mumbled quietly before walking away, coming to place something on the kotatsu.

You found it rather easy to sit and get back up, but toast for breakfast? You were more of a rice and egg person in the morning, but perhaps Kuroo didn't pay attention to what he ate. After breakfast, you ignored the weird look Kuroo's father was giving you before heading out, to find Kenma waiting outside the gate, playing something on a weird horizontal device.

    "What are you doin' here?"

Kenma paused the game before turning and looking at you, cocking an eyebrow at you funnily.

    "Waiting for you, did you forget that we go to school together?"

    "Ah," You rubbed the back of Kuroo's neck, "Must'a slipped my mind—"

    "What's with the country accent?" Kenma mumbled before putting his game inside and you froze.

You completely forgot about trying to maintain an accent. You weren't sure if you could tell Kenma what had happened, but you knew that if someone were to come and tell you they had slipped out of their body and entered someone else's, you'd definitely not believe them, and not only that, you'd worry for their mental health.

    "I was watching something last night," You tried to shake off Kenma's suspicion, but every word that slipped out of your mouth sounded disastrously weird to you, "Don't mind me."

    "You're acting strange, Kuroo."

    "I said don't worry about it." You looked away.

Kenma was perhaps as tall as you were in real life. Kuroo was certainly tall, and you believed he was probably one of the tallest in his school. Well, I'm glad I don't have to find my way to school, you thought before following Kenma, following after every one of his actions. Taking out the card that he used for the train, taking a right when he took a right, taking a left when he took a left—strange, you thought before noticing the school in the distance, I think we took a long way around.

    "Right, so spill," You heard Kenma say, grasping your wrist, "Who are you?"

Eh? Your eyes widened and you instantly blushed at his question. How the hell did he get to know? What was he even suggesting?

    "What? Kenma-kun, I—"

    "You are definitely not Kuroo. I had my suspicions, but the '-kun' confirmed it."

You were sure you were panicking now. The school was just meters away and Kenma had thrown a bomb at you. Whoever this little rat was, he was sure as hell was perceptive. You tried to breathe, but the anxiety was starting to bubble in your chest. Turning to meet Kenma in the eye, you gave him a worried expression, which he just ignored.

    "Lemme explain, I ain't from around 'ere."

Kenma nodded, "I figured as much. How are you here?"

You shook your head, "I 'ave no clue. I just woke up and I'm 'ere. I'm not even from Tokyo!"

Kenma sighed, before leading you inside. He gestured you to follow and handed you something from inside his bag. It was a face mask. You took it from him before hearing him say,

    "Don't talk to anyone. Just tell them you have a cold."

You narrowed your eyes. This Kenma person seemed almost prepared for something like this. Was it something that happened a lot with Kuroo? As strange as it sounded, was it your first time and not his? You put on the mask quietly before following after him, before tugging his sleeve. Kenma paused before swatting your hand away.

    "Kuroo doesn't do that. We'll talk during lunch. Go to class 3-1."

    "Okay. I'm sorry."

He gave you a strange look but ignored you. It was funny how Kenma and Kuroo didn't share a class, but that didn't matter. The mask helped. However, Kenma hadn't told you where you sat, and the class was already occupied. Oh no, you thought before scanning your eyes all over every desk in the classroom. Where does he sit? Does he sit by the window like an anime character? Where does he—

    "Kuroo-san," A voice sounded from behind you and you froze before turning to see a teacher, "Please go to your desk—oh? Are you sick?"

You gave her a helpless smile before realizing that the mask must have covered most of your smile, so you were just closing your eyes at her. She sighed before pointing to a particular desk, and said, "Go."

You nodded before thanking her a gazillion times inside your head and sitting over there. Homeroom was quite strange; the kids were just minding their own business and some of the students weren't even paying attention to what the teacher was saying. You wondered what kind of student Kuroo was, but taking one good look at his notes made you understand just where you were sitting.

He was in a college preparatory class. This Kuroo person was a smartass.

He was good at subjects you were terrible at. Math. Chemistry. Physics. He was great at those, but he wasn't too bad at biology, English and Japanese. Both of you seemed to dislike history, but you didn't think literature was too bad, but Kuroo hated it. He refused even to take notes of the same. Your fingers loomed over his notes and despite the terrible handwriting, you could tell that he worked hard.

    "Kuroo-san," The teacher sounded, offering you a soft smile, "Please get better soon."

Your eyes were wide at the sudden show of concern and you smiled before nodding and realized that no one in class even paid attention. Some of the girls came over to you and asked you if you were alright, but just from one look at them, you realized they were trying to flirt. You didn't know what annoyed you, but suddenly, you saw yourself in one of the girls, and how you'd throw yourself at Akio-kun. Was this how it felt? You thought before clearing your throat.

    "Girls, I really can't talk right now." You tried to say in your fake city accent and heard moans of disapproval from them.

You wanted to snap at everyone personally and tell them that maybe Kuroo didn't care about them at all. Maybe, this Kuroo person was a flirt with no mind, who'd callously play with the emotions of the girls around him, only for his own benefit. And since he was from the city, he might even... he might even do some illicit activities like drugs or such. You didn't know who this Kuroo person was, but you were hoping Kenma would fill you in. If this was the life you had to live from now, a part of you worried that it would remain this way. Lunch break didn't come too early. By the time it was lunch hour, you almost felt like you indeed had a cold, and you rushed out immediately to spot Kenma standing by the door.

    "Kenma-kun!"

He winced at what you called him before saying, "Drop the -kun, damnit. Kuroo never says that!"

You felt your heart shrink from being scolded, but nodded before following him. He turned to you and gave you a look before letting out a sigh.

    "Let's go get lunch first."

    "There's a cafeteria 'ere?"

    "It's a regular school. Of course, there is. Unless the school you're from doesn't have a cafeteria—"

    "We prefer takin' bentos."

Kenma and yourself managed to buy some more bread before you realized that the city folk ate a substantial amount of it. A few minutes later, Kenma began eating while walking and you just stared at him like he was committing a crime. He shot you a look before smirking and continuing his eating. The two of you walked to the roof, which was considerably less occupied than you had imagined.

    "I really thought there'd be more people—"

    "Have you watched the movie 'Kimi no Na Wa'?"

    "What?"

Kenma let out a sigh, "This happens in the movie. I'm surprised it actually happened, and to Kuroo nonetheless, but the movie prepared me, I think."

    "So you knew somethin' like this was gonna happen?" You asked, narrowing your eyes.

He shook his head, "I didn't say that. Just... Familiar with something like this. Not sure why it happens and I seriously hope you're not from a remote country village that's going to be destroyed by a meteor."

You felt a shiver run down your spine, "I am from a remote country village, though... I—I'm from F-Fukue I-Island, i-it's the l-largest island i-in the G-Goto—"

    "Relax, your island isn't going to be destroyed." I think, he thought but decided against telling you.

    "How long is this goin' to happen for?" You asked, folding your arms in front of your chest. Standing there as Kuroo made you feel a tad bit confident, judging from how tall he was.

    "Well, not sure if you're following the movie's timeline, but it happens for a while on random days. You can insert notes in Kuroo's phone for him to see so that you two can communicate whenever this happens. Text yourself to let him know."

    "What if it isn't Kuroo that's... that's in my body?"

    "Highly unlikely."

    "But you just said that this hadn't ever happened before!"

Kenma sighed, before chewing on his bread, "You have to trust me," He said, right before taking another bite, "Besides, it's not like you can go to anyone. No one will believe you. Especially since that movie's a bit famous, they'll just think Kuroo's playing with them."

    "Does he play around often?"

Kenma nodded, "All the time."

You groaned before feeling tears prick your eyes, "What was the point of the movie? When did it stop?"

    "When the... male character and the female character met each other. And they saved the village that the female character lived in."

    "You said—"

    "I know what I said. I'm just... maybe, you have to identify what's lacking in your life and see if Kuroo has it."

You were quiet. The only recent sadness or void in your life came from being rejected brutally by Akio-kun. Your mother and you shared a strained relationship, your father had passed away long ago, your younger brother was an absolute pain. The other family you had, your aunt, lived in Tokyo, and you'd always wanted to live with her considering you were closer to your mother's sister than your mother herself. Most days you didn't even want to get off the bed. If Kuroo was in your body, you knew there was quite possibly nothing he could do that could make your life worse there.

    "What's your name?"

    "(s/n) (y/n)." You said, now looking at him.

Suddenly, Kenma's eyes widened at what you said.

    "What?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at you.

    "What do you mean what?"

That's the name of the girl who....

    "Nothing."

That's the name of the girl who died three weeks ago.

The day passed by quite normally. Kenma thankfully had informed the team that Kuroo was sick and practice had been pushed to another day. Apparently the coach scared the boy, and it wasn't something that you could relate to. You'd left a note behind on Kuroo's phone, 'This is (s/n) (y/n), I hope my life didn't scare you too much!', but secretly wondered if anything strange had happened. While heading back home, you asked Kenma if Kuroo and his dad were distant.

    "Hm, you could say that," Kenma said, clearly not wanting to talk about it, "Kuroo's mom passed when he was a kid. They moved here and became my neighbor. He was silent then. I think I preferred that."

You giggled and said, "You guys must really be close."

He shrugged, "I guess. We've always known each other."

    "Which was why you could figure out that I'm not Kuroo."

Kenma was quiet. He'd asked you to watch the movie to understand a little more about what was going on between you and Kuroo. However, there was something else that Kenma had discovered that he wasn't telling you. If you were a year younger than Kuroo, which was what you'd mentioned, then that meant you in Kuroo's body, were from the past. Because the 'you' in the present had died three weeks ago.

It was something he knew he had to discuss with Kuroo if he hadn't figured that out already.

Just as you reached Kuroo's house, you smiled at him before saying, "Here's hoping I don't see you again."

Kenma chuckled before waving at you, knowing full well that this was going to happen again. Just as you walked away, Kenma turned to a building opposite to where he lived and let out a breath. (s/n) (y/n), huh, he thought before rubbing the back of his head, This is fucked up.

Kuroo's dad wasn't at home when you reached home. Perhaps, he was out for work? You could hear soft snoring coming from upstairs, and you figured that it must be his grandparents.

Kuroo lives with his father and grandparents, Kenma had told you. He has a permanent bed head, and his father loves him but has a temper. Kuroo hates yelling, and he thinks people who yell are degenerate, although sometimes, he gets loud himself.

You walked into Kuroo's room and let out a breath. You set his bag down and removed his uniform, before ironing them and placing them neatly in a hanger and letting them hang from the door. You tried to rid him of his bed hair to no avail, and you opened one of his books before writing another note.

I'm sorry this happened, and I'm aware that if you were living as me for a day, it must be a bit hard. But, I'm glad it's over now. I'm glad you're back to being Kuroo Tetsuroo again. And I hope it never has to happen.

When night came, you decided to eat your fill. You felt bad enough for Kuroo for having to live as you. Turning on the movie Kimi no Na Wa, you tried to watch, trying to learn what this meant. Strangely, Kuroo had already seen it since his computer had a folder that said 'Favorites' and this movie was in that folder. Back in Fukue Island, you prided yourself on how you could use the computer better than your classmates, but clearly, you weren't a genius. The movie was playing, but you couldn't hear it. Shooting a text message to Kenma, you hoped the boy could answer.

Instead, he called you.

    "Kenma-kun," You could picture him wincing, "Can you please tell me what to do 'ere? I'm not able ta hear anythin'."

    "Just check if it's in mute. Kuroo watches porn in mute."

Your face reddened and your eyes widened at the sudden burst of information, which you only chose to ignore. Finding the mute button, you sighed before thanking Kenma and then another thought struck your head.

He'd watched porn right before I touched it!

The shock had the laptop falling off your lap and onto the floor, a clear crack presented on its screen.

    "What was that?" You could hear Kenma's alerted voice at the end of the phone.

    "N-Nothin'!"

Oh no! You felt tears prick your eyes at how broken the laptop was. Scrambling to the floor, you closed the laptop before rushing over to the notebook and writing another note right below the one you had already written.

I'm sorry about your laptop! I really am!

You slapped your forehead, no Kuroo's forehead, and groaned before collapsing on the bed. Your heart was beating rapidly, and there went every chance to watch a movie that could have otherwise explained to you what was going on. If Kuroo's watched it, then he probably understands this better than I do, you thought before letting out a breath. Closing your eyes, you felt sleep pull you into a lull, a sort of comfort you hadn't felt in a very long time. The sound of your mother's voice calling you for breakfast rang in your ear; you honestly missed her with every fiber of your being.

Missed her? You felt a tear leak out of your eye. She's still alive, though...

[arigatouiris]

i’ll remember you // kuroo tetsuroo x reader (2/3)

Author’s Note: Here’s chapter two! I mean, it’s longer than the other two parts that I had in mind, but I hope that’s okay? Also, please let me know what you think of this? I worked really hard on it, so I’d feel so good if you guys tell me what you think :”) And there’s a Barakamon reference in this chapter :3

Word count: 7k+

Pairing: Kuroo Tetsuroo x Reader [Kimi no Na Wa re-write]

Summary: Everything had been perfectly normal until you woke up as a volleyball captain from a school you didn’t go to, in a city you didn’t live in. Ever since then, Kuroo Tetsuroo has been inching closer and closer into your life, wrecking almost everything that could perhaps be considered normal.

However, you never realized how vital he was to you; because you were sure you would understand upon seeing him.The struggle however, was remembering each other. Because what good would it do if you went to saw him and he didn’t remember you?

Well, the universe turns back time, of course. Until he did.

Warnings: angst, body-swapping, bullying, fantasy, reader is depressed, mentions of suicide, character death, slow burn, bittersweet end, awkward boners, mentions of porn

ｃｈ． ０２  —  ｓｌｏｗ ｃｈａｎｇｅｓ

When you woke up, you saw the window first.

You sprung up in your bed before noticing the thin cloth divide the room—your brother's half and yours. Tears threatened to form in your eyes but you blinked them away before rushing to the window, noticing how it was still slightly dark out, how it was about to be sunrise. You noticed that your brother wasn't in the room, he'd probably gone out to help your mom with the salt.

Your hands sprung to your breasts a second later before cuddling up to them, "I missed you..."

A second later, you noticed an evident note on the wall. Your heart sped up, wondering if it was from Kuroo, and walked over to see a rather cryptic message.

You're prettier than you give yourself credit for.

Your eyes widened at the note, before feeling a strange warmth in your chest. You go over to your table before checking if he'd left any more notes, but found none. You picked your phone up and saw that the wallpaper had changed. It was a picture of you that you hadn't taken—you were wearing your school uniform, and you were smiling at the camera; you wouldn't lie, it was an excellent picture of you.

A smile sat on your lips before realizing that Kuroo must have done this.

And I broke his laptop, you cringed before sinking to the ground in horror. A second later, you walked over to the bathroom before brushing your teeth but your eyes widened at the note in the mirror.

Akio is a douche!

You froze. Akio...? Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no!

Did Kuroo say something to him? Did Akio say something to Kuroo and he had said something back? You cursed yourself on thinking that Kuroo couldn't make your life worse than it already was. Scrambling to get ready, you wore your uniform before noticing that it was crumpled and thrown to the corner. Your eyebrow twitched before feeling a feeling of pure distaste sit on your lips. Rushing to make breakfast before your mother and brother returned, you immediately got the rice cooking and the curry boiling. The whole while, all you could think of was what Kuroo might have done, and your heart was pounding in your ear. For some reason, you weren't anxious, perhaps that was because you were in a fight-or-flight mode.

    "Ah," Your mother's voice alerted you, as you set the breakfast on the kotatsu, "How are you feelin' today?"

Huh? You gave her a funny look, "Whaddaya mean?"

    "You were actin' a bit odd yesterday. Thoughtchu were sick o' somethin'."

Your heart melted at your mother's worry for you before shaking your head. She's my mother! You scolded yourself.

    "I'm good today, 'kaa-chan."

    "Clearly you remember how ta make rice today?" Your brother perked up.

Your face reddened before thinking of how Kuroo must have made breakfast yesterday.

    "What?"

   "You were strugglin' to get the cooker on! As if ya didn't ever see it before. And yer curry was disgustin'."

    "I was sick." You mumbled before focusing on the food.

Letting out a breath, you packed your bento before looking at your brother strangely. He was staring at your face oddly.

    "What?"

    "You look like yerself today too. You'd forgotten how ta do yer hair yesterday."

Your heart sunk. It must be hard for a guy to live suddenly as a girl for a day. But, your mind kept circling around what Kuroo might have done to Akio. While walking to school, you stopped by your only friend's house, Kotoishi Naru, and hoped she was the one Kuroo had confided with. You were glad you met Kenma with such ease and wondered how Kuroo may have figured out that Naru was your best friend. Naru wasn't in your class, and she wasn't even around half the time considering how there was a big calligraphy competition that was coming up.

Once Naru saw you, she waved, almost as if nothing strange had occurred. You blinked as she ran over to you, her brown hair bounding behind her with ease.

    "How you feelin' today, (y/n)?"

    "Uh," Didn't Kuroo say anything to Naru? "I'm good. Did... Did anythin' strange happen yesterday?"

Naru scoffed, "A lotta strange things happened, especially with ya, (y/n). Where do ya want me to begin?"

    "Eh?"

    "That boy made me watch that movie, the one where they switch bodies? Wicked, really—"

You grab Naru's shoulders before forcing her to meet your gaze.

    "Naru! Tell me—"

    "You gotta watch that movie, (y/n). And like, maybe skip school—"

    "Naru."

She let out a sigh, "Yanno how Junko's got her ass on ya all the time? The boy in yer body gave her a piece of his mind when she forced herself on ya. She threatened to cut yer hair if ya didn't finish 'er homework. That boy wasn't havin' none of it. Junko's prolly not gon' ever talk to ya again. And..."

Naru looked a bit hesitant as she continued, "Ya prolly shouldn't talk ta Akio either."

    "Oh no," You felt your heart sink in your chest, "Was it about the confession?"

Naru blinked, "What confession?"

You sighed, "Two days ago, I confessed to Akio-kun. He turned me down—"

    "That bastard," Naru muttered, "But, it's good. Just don't go talk to 'im. Pretend he's scum, aight? Actually, he is scum—"

    "Naru, what happened?"

Naru shrugged before leading you to school. You knew you weren't going to get any answers out of her right then. But, your heart was pounding against your chest. You knew Kuroo was just trying to help out by standing up for you, but by changing the way you behaved just for momentary gratification didn't seem right to you. You'd barely made any changes in his life, but the way he'd completely turned yours around felt strange. You weren't thankful; in fact, you were angry.

On reaching school, people watched you as you made your every move. Naru wasn't by your side but had strictly warned you to not say a word in edgewise to anyone. That's probably what I'll do anyway, you thought before heading to class and freezing in front of your desk. Your eyes widened at the words written on the desk, 'Slut', 'Whore', 'Demon', and other things. Your hands were shaking at the way these words suddenly sprung up only after a day of living as Kuroo.

    "Ah," The teacher said, and you looked up with sad eyes, "Yer aight, there?"

Even the teachers noticed? You heard snickering from behind you but you ignored them. Never had you felt so degraded before, and it was all thanks to how some boy had lived in your body for a day and didn't bother to accommodate.

You ate your lunch quietly just as Naru trod inside and slammed her hand on your table. She frowned at the words that you hadn't bothered to erase, and then looked up at you.

    "We gotta move," She said, grabbing your wrist, pulling you, but you refused to budge, "Now!"

    "Naru! What do you—"

    "There she is," Akio's loud voice was barely missable. You had grown to fall for that voice, after all, "The school slut."

You felt as if your body was on fire; and you wanted to leave instantly. Naru moved before you could catch a glimpse of Akio's threatening gaze fall on you. You felt like his gaze could burn you. It wasn't in a nice way. His face had a very dark bruise, right below his eye and his nose looked a bit crooked. You couldn't move, you were frozen to your spot, confused at the scene occurring before you.

    "Watch yer mouth, Matsuo." Naru warned before Akio scoffed.

    "Ask 'er to watch 'ers! Dunno where it's been—"

    "What're you sayin'?" You snapped, feeling your heart burst.

The class burst into laughter at your sudden outburst, but you saw a tinge of... fear, you couldn't believe it, in Akio's eyes. Clicking his tongue, he walked away, taking the air of confidence with him. Tears filled your eyes and you immediately got up and ran to the roof, knowing that'll be the only place no one would bother you. Naru followed shortly after, knowing full well that you were distraught.

    "Naru, what happened?"

She sighed before groaning, "He threw 'imself at ya, (y/n)." Your eyes widened.

    "The boy in yer body were the one who gave 'im the black eye. Deserved it too."

Akio threw himself at me? That doesn't make sense! I was the one who confessed to him! You wanted to ask Kuroo what had happened but there wasn't any way you could contact him, considering how you'd failed to send yourself a text message. If you were ever going to wake up in his body again, you'd let him know just how much you appreciated him turning things around in your life. You clenched your fists so tightly that you swore you could punch through a wall.

Kuroo Tetsuroo, you goddamn pig!

*

When Kuroo woke up as you, he didn't really freak out as much. It took him until half a day for him to realize that it wasn't a dream at all, that having enjoyed Kimi no Na Wa so much he was finally living it seemed a bit too unreal. However, after learning what that girl Naru had called you, Kuroo froze a little bit.

You were the girl that had killed herself, opposite Kenma's house.

Here, you were a second-year high school student, which meant that this was a year prior to how things went. Kuroo didn't know why you had killed yourself in the present, but he assumed it must be some reason related to mental health, for all suicides were along the same lines. His heart felt for you, but he was now more curious to see why he was swapped into your body. Did this mean he had to save your life, the same way Taki had saved Mitsuha?

    "Oi," Kuroo said, as you, to the brown-haired girl calling herself Naru, "What's this girl's deal?"

    "Whaddaya mean, (y/n)?"

Kuroo groaned, "I'm not (y/n)! I'm a guy, stuck in her body."

    "Eh? That ain't possible—"

    "After school, I'll show you a movie, how about that? Now, just play along. What's her deal?"

Naru hummed before tapping her chin a couple of times. It wasn't as if she didn't like role-playing, but you had been acting weird all day. This didn't particularly seem impossible, even though science told her it was out of the question.

    "(y/n)'s the firstborn of two kids, she's got a younger brother, Takeru, and 'er mum's a bit of a bitch," Kuroo winced, "Ah, you aren't (y/n). She'd 'ave killed me if I said that."

Kuroo sighed, before gesturing her to continue. This was sometime after lunch, where Kuroo forcefully ate the bento (y/n)'s younger brother had made after he had called in sick on (y/n)'s behalf. He didn't understand why there wasn't a fully functioning cafeteria, but he assumed cities were different from country prefectures. He was in Nagasaki, after all.

    "(y/n)'s dad's passed while fishing for oysters. 'er aunt lives in Tokyo, and is honestly the only person in (y/n)'s family that she adores."

Her aunt, huh, Kuroo's eyes narrowed, "She adores her aunt?"

Naru nodded, "Aunt's nice. Brings 'er gifts and all. Always keeps askin' her to move to Tokyo. Mum's against it."

    "Why?"

    "Even I dunno that, shonen." Naru shrugged.

It was during lunch that Akio had approached Kuroo. He was quite certain that he was her boyfriend, with how close he was and how he was saying such cheesy stupid shit. Maybe, they fought or something? Kuroo was never the one to pry, although, he took very little to understand the context of certain situations. Just as he understood this one.

    "I know I said no ta ya," Akio's hands were inching closer and closer to Kuroo, "But lemme erase that, aight? With the way ya are right now, I'm not sure I can hold myself back—"

    "Hold up a goddamn minute," Kuroo smirked before placing both his hands against his chest and pushing him away, "You rejected me?"

    "That's in the past—"

    "And you're nuzzling close to me like we're dating? You must be some pig, eh?"

Akio's eyes flashed with anger before grabbing Kuroo's wrist. Judging from the strength (y/n) had, he was certain that she wouldn't have been able to push him away, but this was Kuroo. And even though he didn't like physical fights, helping a girl recover her honor was not against his many policies. He twisted Akio's hands before throwing a nasty punch to the boy's face, drawing blood. It wasn't as if he knew you personally or even knew enough of your story to be doing this, but he was in your body right then, and if at all you believed you were deserving of this idiot's schemes, Kuroo wanted you to know that you were much more.

The second he saw your image in the mirror, he was floored at how beautiful you were even in the morning. Your hair was marvelous, your smile was gorgeous, and your body... now that was something else. Kuroo wasn't a pervert, but he won't deny that having your body for a day was making him more curious by the hour. He had touched your breasts, he wouldn't lie, but he'd have done that if it were anyone. But, he refused to look at any part of you otherwise, which was perhaps why he decided he wouldn't take a shower. The farthest he would go would be touching your breasts, and if he had to comment, he'd simply say that he wouldn't mind waking up as you if it meant having your breasts.

He had learned later that day from Naru that (y/n) had been obsessed with this Akio boy for over a few months now. Taking a deep breath, he walked over to the girl and asked her if she had a computer with a stable internet connection. When she said only her phone had an internet connection, Kuroo groaned. Even the groan sounds adorable coming from (y/n), he thought before nodding once.

    "There's a movie we're going to watch, okay?"

    "Whatsit about?"

    "Whatever's happening to me and your friend."

It surprised him how quietly Naru sat through the entire movie. Kuroo didn't mind watching Kimi no Na Wa again, especially as someone else, but Naru's fascination with the movie amazed him. For a moment, he deliberated on telling her that you had died in the present world, but he knew that telling Naru meant he was inevitably telling you, and he didn't want you to panic or throw yourself into a corner.

If he was put in your body, and judging from what he knew happens to you, he was meant to save you.

Perhaps, the care rose in his heart after learning that he was in your body of all people. Knowing that you had died, alone and isolated in a house where your aunt was probably never home, having not been fed or having any friends for that matter, Kenma knew better about the circumstances of your death, and he made it a point to ask him later.

Once the movie was done, the first question that Naru asked him proved to him that Naru was indeed one of the smartest people he'd met.

    "Something's gonna happen to 'er, isn't it?"

When he woke up back as himself, the first thing he saw was the familiar Ratchet and Clank poster in front of him, and the loudness of Tokyo livelihood. He turned to spot his uniform neatly folded and hung from hangers against the door, and his heart twisted in dissatisfaction with how he had just haphazardly thrown yours. He noticed the note you had left behind and smiled as he read your words, before noticing the line below your first note. His eyes widened and he rushed toward his laptop, before noticing a large crack on it.

    "You've got to be kidding—" He traced his hand against the big crack on his laptop's screen before feeling nothing but ire in his heart, "—she fucking broke my laptop!"

Rushing down to meet Kenma, knowing full well that he'd understand, he noticed his father coming toward him with breakfast. Kuroo eyed his father strangely before his father returned the gaze.

    "You ate yesterday, so what's the trouble now?"

Kuroo groaned internally when he realized that you had no idea what issues he was having and Kuroo didn't want to argue first thing in the morning. Snatching the toast his father had made, Kuroo rushed out to meet Kenma.

    "Oi, Kenma!"

Kenma's eyes met his friend's form before a smirk plastered on his face, "So, how was it living as someone who's dead?"

    "She broke my laptop!"

Kenma's smirk didn't die down, "Yeah, she was trying to watch the movie, but then I told her you might have watched porn earlier and she dropped it. Don't blame her, your laptop's probably filthy."

Kuroo gasped, "It is not!"

Kenma shrugged.

    "I don't even want to explain to the old man what happened. He's going to whoop my ass for it, it's barely a year old. Agh, damn it."

    "Kuroo," Kenma's voice suggested he was being serious, "This is strange."

He let out a sigh, "No kidding. I woke up crying," Kenma looked at him, "She's got a shit life, no offence to her. Mum's a bit cold, brother's a little shit, her best friend's a bit... strange, she gets bullied by this dumb loudmouth, and the guy she liked practically tried to assault her."

    "She wasn't too happy here either, from what I've heard," Kenma said, "Her mum passed away because of an accident and her aunt brought her here. Her aunt's a monster, though. Barely cared for her. Drove her to the edge until..."

Kenma felt his heart constrict uncomfortably. Sure, she had broken his laptop but that was minor compared to the changes he'd made in your life. Just thinking about it made him wonder how you'd take it, but there was something strange overall regarding the entire timeline of it all. If you were dead in the present life, how did it matter what these small changes instigate? If anything, Kuroo understood that it was your depression that drove you to the edge; but, considering what he'd done yesterday, standing up for herself when she clearly had not before, Kuroo wondered if it would make a difference at all.

    "Need to know more about why she... you know."

Kenma nodded, "So you think it'll happen again?"

Kuroo thought of the tears that leaked out of your eyes that morning he woke up as you. He nodded, a serious gleam in his gold eyes. It better, he thought, his stomach twisted as he remembered hearing of your death for the first time.

    "What about practice yesterday?"

    "Didn't have it. Nekomata's pretty pissed. Gave you a mask and she moved around pretending you were sick."

Kuroo sighed with relief but felt worse when he thought of the welcome you might be getting later today. He understood that the events might have already occurred but if Kuroo's swapped into your body and if that made any change in the timeline of events, if that meant you could come out of this alive, he wouldn't mind. No one deserved to be pushed to an extent like that, and whether you knew it or not, you were worthy of so much more. He'd gone through your notes, he'd gone through a few of your scribbles and he could understand that you were a hard-worker. You wanted to move to Tokyo and live a city life, you wanted a better life for yourself and he could see just from one day that you were striving for it. Sure, you were a tad bit insecure, judging from how Akio had spoken of you, but Kuroo knew you were so much more than what you thought of yourself.

He didn't know why he felt this way, but he didn't want you to go down the way you did. And if these swaps made a difference, then he'd ensure that the difference was good.

The more the day progressed, the more he thought about what you were doing. While he knew that his timeline was set in the future and that yours was from a year ago, it still felt like you were there, going to school, managing the bullying, the idiotic crush you had on that jerk. He knew that it was just because of living in your body for a day that he cared and that until now, despite learning you had died, he had no idea who you were, and while he did feel bad for you, it was only after this did it feel a tad bit personal.

A week passed before Kuroo woke up as you again.

Instantly, his hands rushed to your breasts and a large drunk grin plastered on his face. I've missed you two, he thought before finding that the screen dividing your brother's side of the room was open and your brother was staring at you—Kuroo—intently.

    "What are you doing, nee-chan?"

Kuroo gasped before throwing a pillow at the little boy, before hearing him groan and throw it back. It wasn't that the little boy, Takeru, was a little shit, it was just that he seemed to have the ability to be around when he wasn't needed. Suddenly, as if he were being pulled out of a stupor he realized that he hadn't woken up with tears in his eyes. Turning to young Takeru, Kuroo gestured for the boy to come closer. Takeru listened and crouched beside Kuroo, before waiting intently.

    "If I had memory loss and forgot the entire day of yesterday, how would you describe what happened to me?"

Takeru hummed before tapping his chin a couple of times, "You din't 'ave a good day yesterday," Ah, damn, "You fought with mum and she hitchu," Kuroo winced, "but I think ya were mean ta 'er, 'cause she was cryin'. You were cryin' too, sayin' how you were sorry butchu din't tell mum that so ya were cryin' for nothin'. Naru-nee came'oer, but she had ta leave after some time. And in school," Takeru shrugged, "I don't know 'cause yer in high school and I'm in elementary."

Kuroo ruffled Takeru's head before smiling a bit. Seems like you had quite the day, he thought before hearing Takeru say something strange.

    "You should talk to 'kaa-chan," Kuroo's eyes widened, "She misses ya. She tells me when we pick salt. She misses ya, nee-chan."

(y/n) moved to Tokyo because her mum passed away in an accident, right? Kuroo thought before narrowing his eyes, What kind of accident was it? And what happened to Takeru?

Heading to the living room, Kuroo noticed your mother near the kitchen. Her face was puffy, and it looked like she had cried herself to sleep the night before. Kuroo knew it was not in his place to say or do anything, but there was only one thing he could conceive that could perhaps help in this situation. Whatever it is, if we can at least avoid her mother's misunderstanding, then maybe, (y/n) can stay behind.

    "Kaa-chan," It was strange for Kuroo to be calling someone that after years, "About yesterday—"

In one instant, your mother turned to face Kuroo, you, and her eyes filled with tears. She instantly wiped them away before nodding.

    "I've made breakfast—"

    "Please," Kuroo said, "I might not say this often, but... I miss you more than you know. I know things aren't okay and I know I might act differently sometimes, but you need to know I'm always here for you. Just talk to me, okay?"

Your mother stared at Kuroo like you were another person; which was true, but it wasn't like she'd notice.

    "I sometimes forget ya are yer father's daughter," your mother said, chuckling, "Yer so sweet, baby. I'm sorry for hittin' ya."

    "I'm... sorry for raising my voice."

Your mother knew you hadn't raised your voice. Your mother also probably knew that something extraordinary was going on, but just to see her daughter smile and nod at her made her feel strangely content. A hand reached toward Kuroo and grazed against his, no your, cheek, and he felt tears sting the back of his eyelids.

    "I'll try ta be a bit more nicer, yeah?"

Kuroo chuckled before feeling his the back of his throat hurt. He nodded, because, well, what else could he do? Breakfast that morning was relatively milder, there was an air of ease spread around and while he wanted no credit, Kuroo's heart bubbled with a bit of pride. It wasn't too intense, Kuroo felt the same sort of penchant luck he would feel if after casually tossing something across the room and it hits his target so crisply and perfectly that he feels no desire even to attempt another shot. While walking to school, Kuroo waved at Takeru before turning to spot Naru waiting outside her house. Running to her, Kuroo slapped the girl's back before grinning widely.

    "Yer the boy!"

Kuroo felt his heart drop, "How'd you know?"

    "If (y/n) ever let 'erself smile like that, that'd be the day," Naru chuckled, "We've got tests today, yer on the worst possible day."

Kuroo felt his heart drop, but that wasn't because of the tests. Oh shit, he thought before realizing that today was one of the practice matches scheduled between Fukurodani and Nekoma, and you were there in his place. Oh, fuck, he thought before running a hand through your hair, before stopping himself. Wow, he thought, your hair is so smooth. He remembered touching your hair before, but was it always this smooth?

    "You look like yer constipated," Naru said, staring at his face. "Somethin' wrong?"

    "Nothing I can do about now." Kuroo said, sighing. We're losing to Fukurodani, and I lost a bet to Bokuto. Great.

    "How's she been doing so far?"

Naru hummed, "Better, I think. She ain't cleanin' her desk, though. The names are still 'ere."

    "Names?"

Naru cringed, "You'll see 'em. People've stopped talkin' to 'er, but that's surprisingly helpful. And... Oh, yeah! She got a job."

Oh, fuck me.

    "What job?"

Naru shrugged, "Tis easy, just regular shop keepin'. The general store has obaa-san watchin' it over, so (y/n) decided to help out for some dough."

Ah, that's doable, he thought before saying, "What test?"

    "Math. She hates math."

Kuroo sighed with relief. I'll give her a gift for ruining her life the last time, he chuckled before entering the school, only to find no one looking at him. He paused for a moment before feeling Naru turn and look at him, suddenly having frozen to the spot. It was as if he was an outcast, living an invisible life—no one could see him, his life didn't matter, his existence as such was minute. He turned to Naru before she offered him a kind smile and a nod suggesting that yes, this was how things were.

Kuroo only let it fuel his determination further.

Entering class, he noticed that (y/n)'s desk was riddled with insults, which boiled his blood. With his eyebrow ticking at how unabashedly disgusting this was, Kuroo took out (y/n)'s kerchief before wiping the insults off. He heard a few snickers before he turned to them and glared, only to have them swallow their chuckles. Kuroo returned to swiping the names off the desk before letting out a breath and sitting down.

    "Those names are gonna be back tomorrow." He heard someone say and Kuroo knew responding would be bad for (y/n).

But, he really couldn't help it.

    "And they'll be off just as quickly as they came. Maybe, the hand that writes them will be off too."

It was then he realized that (y/n)'s voice, when used in such a sweet yet dangerous manner, was a tad bit arousing. She could be menacing if she wanted to, but for that, he knew she had to be pushed a little more. He didn't know the entire story, but he knew that if he allowed himself to be completely immersed in what she went through, then there was a chance he could save her. He wanted to save her, he wanted her happy—and knew it was because he was able to live as her.

The test went really well; he wasn't sure if (y/n) was really good at math, but judging from what Naru had said, you hated the subject so that meant you weren't too good. That didn't matter, you were probably going to score more than you ever had before. On his way out with Naru, he spotted Akio at a distance, before he gave him the stink-eye, before Akio walked away, scoffing.

    "What'd that pig say after?"

    "Came and called 'er a slut the next day," Kuroo frowned, "But, she was surprisingly mature 'bout it. Didn't bother with 'im. Heartbroken (y/n) is the most productive (y/n). Got 'erself a job."

Every cell in your body screamed that you wanted to survive. If he could see it, if Naru could see it, then why couldn't you?

That night, he left a message for you in your mirror. I apologized to your mom for you. Scored a good number on your math test. Cleaned your desk for you. Please keep it that way. And I forgive you for the laptop. Kuroo sighed before heading to your bed, before allowing himself to rest.

When he woke up, the first thing he saw was black—there was a note stuck to his face. Blinking, he pulled the note to see something written in big bold letters.

Kuroo Tetsuroo, you self-centered pig!

He narrowed his eyes at the accusation before sitting up and scratching his head. What the hell did I do? You're the one that broke my laptop! Turning to the side, he saw a completely clean desk, with books stacked like a sane person's desk, and his uniform was once again hanging neatly ironed from the hanger by his door. His right eyebrow twitched before he walked to the bathroom, and in his mirror, big red letters from his red marker had been etched ruthlessly: How dare you scream at Akio-kun?! How dare you mess up my life the way you did?! I was fine before you came along! I didn't even do anything the whole time I was you and I could have easily messed things up!

His eyebrow twitched dangerously before grabbing his phone and calling Kenma.

    "What happened yesterday?"

    "Ah, you got a stomach bug and sat out during practice. Bokuto called you a coward."

    "Ah, fuck."

    "And she finally watched the movie."

Did she now? Kuroo felt an odd sense of anger and misplaced sort of betrayal lodge in his heart. However, these feelings were soon going to be replaced.

When you woke up as Kuroo, you didn't get startled right away. You had expected it by now and in a strange way, you hoped for it; you wanted to mess small things up a little bit by behaving differently, just as he had done with little to no consideration to accommodate in your life. You frowned before not even being bothered with the bed hair and rushed downwards before noticing Kuroo's father by the counter.

    "Otou-san," You weren't sure how Kuroo addressed his father, if Kuroo even addressed him at all, but it felt very strange for you to use that word after having not used it in years, "Good morning!"

Kuroo's father turned to you with horror before freezing as you approached him and gave him a hug. You tightened it gradually, feeling his father freeze up at how uncharacteristic it was for his son to greet him that way.

    "Did you have a bad dream again?"

You froze before staying that way, not expecting this.

    "Been years, I thought. Now you're hugging me like a moron. You know it's just a dream, right?"

You pulled away before feeling your heart sink at the way his father was looking at you. He let out a sigh before shaking his head.

    "It's not your fault, idiot. Separations happen. People... people die. I know we never had this talk but—"

    "N-No. I..." It feels wrong that his father was talking about something so personal with you, thinking you were his son. "I'm sorry—"

    "That's the thing, Tetsu," His father smiled bitterly, "You shouldn't be, son. You of all people shouldn't be."

Breakfast was quiet but tranquil. It wasn't weird, and you noticed Kuroo's grandparents smile at you and wave, wanting to catch some more sleep before having breakfast. Your heart gave way at seeing such a cute old couple hold each other's hands and help each other around, and you wondered what kind of boy Kuroo was. Heading out, you noticed Kenma there again. Leaning down, you smiled at him before saying, "Kenma-kun!"

Kenma's eyes widened before saying, "(s/n)?"

You nodded sheepishly, before rubbing the back of your, no Kuroo's, neck. Kenma sighed before letting out a chuckle, causing you to tilt your head at him confusingly.

    "What's up?"

    "Of all days," Kenma said, an evil glint in his eye, "Today's the swap day."

    "Why? What's today?"

Kenma said, "Well, let's just say you can't miss volleyball practice."

Wanting to mess with Kuroo a little bit more, you noticed the line of girls looking at you from the corner and shot them a sweet smile, before feeling Kenma nudge your stomach with his elbow.

    "Are you trying to get him in trouble?" You nodded pridefully, "Then try harder, Kuroo always smiles at girls."

You felt annoyed at his words, but you sort of expected Kuroo to be a bit of a flirt.

    "Is he a flirt?"

    "He doesn't realize he's doing it. He's just a dork."

You giggled at that before Kenma turned to you and cocked an eyebrow.

    "I know it's hard for you, but try to be a boy, okay?"

You let out a breath before nodding and heading over to your, no Kuroo's, classroom. You noticed how his bench was devoid of names, and your heart shrunk at the thought. You'd gotten used to seeing the names on your desk, but right then, the emptiness made you remember where you had come from. Kuroo was loved and revered for being the volleyball captain, and being handsome, and had friends who loved and cared for him. You let out a breath before trying to remain in character, finding no energy in your heart to play with Kuroo's life.

You knew he had to take your math test, but you believed he'd ace it. Seeing how good he was at math, and how Kuroo was a year older, after all. You wondered if he'd fail on purpose because you had broken his laptop, but your heart told you he wasn't that petty. But, what I'm doing is petty, right? You frowned before thinking of how Akio-kun approached you the other day, and the names on your desk.

After school, you followed Kenma into the gym, your heart pounding the entire time. You tugged at Kenma's sleeve right after changing, before he sighed.

    "Just... smirk at everyone and cock your right eyebrow and try and make fun of the really short guy, Yaku, and be rude to the really tall guy, Lev. And have you ever played volleyball before?"

Your heart sunk as you nodded slightly, "A few times in middle school."

Kenma chuckled, "Serves him right for being cocky all the damn time," You narrowed your eyes, "Let's see how it goes."

Walking out, you saw Kuroo's volleyball team for the first time. They weren't even looking at you, but then you noticed the really tall guy that Kenma said was called Lev. You gulped before shooting him a deadpan as he approached you.

    "So the thing—"

    "Lev," Kenma interrupted, saving your life, "Did you practice what I told you?"

    "Eh?"

    "Look at the ball while smacking it. Don't lower your elbows. You need to prioritize speed over height—"

As Kenma was talking, you could see Lev step backward in absolute horror. You wanted to laugh at the way silent and smooth Kenma turned into an intimidating mentor, but the interaction they had was simply just too sweet to ignore.

    "Wait! Don't say all that at once!" Lev begged, causing you to chuckle meanly.

   "By the way," You swore you could feel ice around Kenma's shoulders now, penetrating straight to Lev, "I've told you all this before."

Letting out a breath, Kenma calmed down before shooting you a look and then turning to Lev, "You're still nowhere as good as Shoyo."

Shoyo?

    "Damn it! I'm definitely going to turn this around!" Lev said, pumping his fist in the air.

A moment later, a bunch of differently dressed students entered the gym. Your eyes widened a tad bit before finding Kenma's, who simply shrugged and alerted you to come to the side. While it received weird looks that you were being too quiet and being summoned by Kenma, you had no other choice but to move away. The short person, Yaku, gave you the stink eye, and you wondered if he liked Kuroo at all.

    "Bokuto looks like an owl and is probably going to smother you," You felt your stomach flip, "Akaashi is quieter and won't bother you. And the others don't talk to you as much. Kuroo flirts with the female managers, but it won't look weird if you don't talk to them today. Just say your stomach hurts or something."

    "Won't that make Kuroo look bad?"

Kenma smirked, "Everything will make him look bad, you can just hope to reduce the damage."

    "Hey, hey, hey! Kuroo-kun! Ready to lose today?"

    "A-Ah," You gulped, unaware of what to call him and said the first thing that came to mind, "You're the one that's gonna lose, o-owl bastard!"

Bokuto blinks at what you called him and a second later bursts out laughing. Akaashi nodded at you before greeting you quietly. Kenma shot you a thumbs up before you let out a breath of relief.

    "Haven't heard you call me that in a while. You're definitely going to lose!"

In the middle of practice, you gulped before clutching your stomach and moving to the side. Strangely, it was Bokuto who rushed toward you as if something was wrong.

    "Oi, oi, oi, you look pale there, Kuroo-kun! You alright?"

    "Haven't been," You seriously considered getting a job as an actress, "All day."

Akaashi turned to the coach before bowing once, and it was Yaku who rushed to you before placing a calm hand on your back.

    "What's happening to you?"

    "Must be the food—"

    "Ah, damn," Yaku turned to the coach before saying, "I think Kuroo's got a stomach bug! Let's sub him out."

    "Hm, maybe," Bokuto tapped his chin and said cheekily, "You're just scared of losing and your body's reacting that way."

    "Please ignore him when he's being that way, Kuroo-san." Akaashi said, looking straight at you.

After practice, which you stayed behind to watch, constantly making weird faces to show you were in pain, Kenma accompanied you home. It was quiet for a bit as you continued to walk with him, not knowing what to say.

    "About Kuroo-kun's mother," You began, "His father told me something today."

Kenma turned to you and blinked, "What'd he say?"

    "That it wasn't Kuroo-kun's fault."

    "Ah."

    "What did that mean?"

    "I can't tell you."

You pouted, but you understood where Kenma was coming from. You knew almost nothing about Kuroo at all, and even if he had turned a bit of your life around, you knew he knew nothing about yours. Maybe, by trying to alter his life a little bit, you'd only sunk to make him act more like himself, which was nothing close to what you had initially planned on doing. There was no point in trying to shame Kuroo, when in hindsight, he had simply just tried to stand up to the people who wronged you.

Junko never bothered you for notes after that, and Akio-kun left you alone, resorting to just giving you ugly looks whenever he passed by you. You'd lost every bit of feelings you had for him after Naru told you he'd tried to assault you, for which Kuroo had merely punched him out of defense. You wondered what you'd have done if you were in that situation. But, I was, you thought before feeling the back of your eyelids burn, I was in that situation and even then Kuroo-kun was the one who saved me.

It felt odd that someone you had never even met was helping you out like this, and it made you feel weirdly crippled. That night, you finally allowed yourself to watch Kimi no Na Wa on Kuroo's computer, which was brand-new. You made careful effort to ensure you wouldn't drop it this time.

However, you wanted to let him have a piece of your mind. Heading to the bathroom, you scribbled on the mirror with his whiteboard marker and then wrote a post-it note to stick on his face as you slept. However, the real notes that you wanted him to see where on his desk, beneath a book you knew he might miss. You managed to clear out his pigeon coop of a table and stacked everything the way you would have for yourself. It was after that did you find yourself writing what you really wanted him to know.

I know you're trying to help me, and I want to thank you. But, I can't. If I allow you to keep helping me, then I will never help myself.

But, thank you. For everything.

You let out a breath before sticking the post-it to your face and lying down. It had been a strange day.

[arigatouiris]

hushed feelings // kuroo tetsuroo x reader

Author’s Note: Alright, normally I’d write something flirty for my favorite boi Tetsu but I’ve been feeling down lately and I really craved for some Soulmate AU so here we have it. Hope ya’ll like this~

Word count: 4376

Pairing: Kuroo Tetsuroo x Depressed! Reader [Soulmate AU]

Warnings: depressive themes, angst, mentions of drugs, abusive households, wow this is dark (fluffy end?)

Ever since Kuroo Tetsuro could remember walking, he had been certain that he had no soulmate. 

It wasn’t because he didn’t believe in them, or because he didn’t like the idea of them, Kuroo never really held any malice toward the idea or principle of soulmates—it’s just that unlike the rest of the population, he just couldn’t feel them. 

It is said that soulmates can feel each other’s deepest feelings—especially when it got extreme. For instance, extreme joy or sorrow, or anger or jealousy, could be instantly recognized by the other—and it is only when the soulmates touch skin-to-skin for the first time does this ‘stop’ or in other words, sync together. It was perhaps the universe’s way of saying ‘you’re not alone’ or a mockery from the universe saying, ‘you’re not alone, but you’re never going to find them’. 

However, for Kuroo, things were different. People usually start feeling their better half’s emotions by the time they’re 10 or 11 years old. Sometimes, it can take up to when a person reaches 15 or 16. Kuroo was currently 17 years old. And not once in his entire life did he feel someone else’s emotions. He wondered if the person had some kind of mental disorder where they can’t process or feel extreme emotions; he wondered if the other person could feel his own emotions—feelings of joy or anger, because he was certain that he had moments when he couldn’t contain himself. 

On most days, Kuroo felt absolutely alone—wondering if he was one of the several sad folk that’s born without a soulmate, because he was just meant to dig through the earth by himself. 

However, he wasn’t the sort to feel unhappy over something like this. At least, not externally. He’d notice when Yaku would walk into the gym feeling rather obliviously happy or when Kenma just felt lower than usual—and he’d think of how each of these people have someone waiting for them, to meet one day. On most days, he just felt anger—over everything, wondering if this entire soulmate fiasco was unfair; not allowing people to meet whoever they wanted, fall in love with no strings attached. The complications of the universe angered him, but the helplessness made it worse.

Walking into practice one evening, he noticed his team huddled over the corner—around something. There were a bunch of girls and a crying Yamamoto, standing in the distance. Kuroo blinked before walking over there, curious as to what had occurred. 

He saw you, laying there, unconscious.

     “What—” Kuroo’s face contorted into that of extreme panic, then turning to Yamamoto, he waited, “—happened?

     “I swear! I didn’t see her! It was as if she wasn’t even there! I would never spike on a girl on purpose!”

That much is true, Kuroo thought before looking at you, peacefully out of it, before sighing and picking you up. As captain, and even if this had never happened before, he had to take you to the nurse. What were you doing in the gym all alone? And why hadn’t anyone noticed you? 

Shooting Kenma a look, the dyed haired boy nodded once before ushering Yamamoto out of the way. Kuroo now focused entirely on you, and rushed to the nurse. You were breathing (and you looked like you were asleep, strange as it was). Kuroo reached the nurse’s office rather quickly, since it was after school hours. Upon taking a mere glance at you, the nurse cringed before slapping her own forehead.

Kuroo blinked. 

     “Does she come here often?” He asked, smirking.

     “You won’t believe it,” the nurse pointed to the lone bed and Kuroo followed, “It’s like she lives here.”

Kuroo chuckled before noticing you slowly waking up, wanting to sit this down and ask what you were doing in the gym in the first place. Apart from giving Yamamoto a scare for his life, Kuroo thought, unaware of the smirk sitting on his face.

     “The face you’re making is creepy, senpai.”

Kuroo blinked before noticing you, staring at him, practically emotionlessly. Smirking, Kuroo leaned forward before blinking at you, filtering the questions in his head.

     “What were you doing in the gym, kouhai-chan? Yamamoto’s never going to live down hitting you with the ball—”

     “I followed a cat, is all.” 

It was strange, Kuroo thought, of how casual your words were. It was as if you made no effort to communicate, your eyes were fixed at him and he was sure that he had your attention, but it wasn’t in any other way apart from when you’re reading a book or crossing the road. Kuroo noticed the lack of movement on your eyebrows, of how... emotionless you presented yourself as. It was honestly...

...really creepy.

     “Uh,” He had to get back to practice. “I’ll make sure that the cat is fine.”

     “I’m sorry for disrupting practice,” Kuroo paused before looking at you again, “I might not look it, but I mean it.”

You were right, you did not look like you meant it. But you were looking straight into his eyes that he couldn’t look away and his heart was screaming that you meant what you said. Shooting you a grin, Kuroo raised a thumb up to you, to which you merely just blinked—and walked out of the room.

A second later, he felt it; Kuroo paused, his eyes widening a tad bit slowly and his pace slowed accordingly. A sadness that crept into his system, almost as if it was too shy to come to him entirely. It was the sort of sadness that you knew you were going to feel eventually, but chose not to be entirely ready for its arrival. It felt as if he was out of breath at that second, feeling for the first time what his soulmate was feeling, a sadness that was scared to let him know that they were there. A hand shot to his chest, where the emotions felt concentrated most, and he stood there, confused the whole time. 

     “What the...” 

Why now after so many years? And why did it feel like it wasn’t the first time? Why did Kuroo feel like he had felt what this person was feeling for years, but had not recognized it? Why did it feel so familiar yet alien? 

You walked out of the nurse’s room and saw him there, frozen. You bit your lower lip before rushing out, trying to suppress whatever it was that you were feeling at least until you got home.

*

     “I felt my soulmate’s emotions for the first time today!” Kuroo said, grinning hopelessly before noticing Yaku roll his eyes.

     “Oh! I thought you didn’t have a soulmate?” Lev asked, genuinely surprised.

     “Shut it.” Kuroo snapped, grimly.

     “What were they feeling?” Kenma was the one to ask, knocking Kuroo out of his stupor.

     “It was the weirdest sort of sadness I’ve ever felt in my life. As if she saw a dress she couldn’t buy and was crying for it from outside the window.”

     “That actually sounds cute.” Yaku mused, blinking.

Scoffing, the scheming captain had had enough of the soulmate talk—he was certain that if he started to feel them now, then it was only about time before he got to actually feel more of what they were feeling; continuing with practice, the entire team couldn’t even tell if Kuroo was distracted, yet he was. All he could think about was how familiar it felt to have felt this person’s emotions for the first time. It was unnatural. 

While leaving, Kenma and Kuroo waved goodbye to the rest of the team. Kuroo suggested they go get something to eat first, but Kenma had other things to do—which made the taller male roll his eyes at the mere thought. 

     “Ah,” Kuroo said, his hand flying to where his heart was located, “There it is again, Kenma.”

     “There what is?”

     “That weird sadness,” Kuroo mused, “It’s like she’s calling out to me! I mean, after all these years of not feeling anything, I’ve been feeling latently sad all evening today. Maybe she just wants a hug.”

     “You don’t know who this person is, Kuroo. Give it a break.” 

Kuroo wanted to scoff at his friend but paused when he actually felt the feeling intensify. He felt nauseous suddenly, and the intense need to cry—scream, if it would help. It was as if someone was stepping on his heart and all he wanted to do was cry—he could only wonder what his soulmate was actually feeling at that second. Shaking his heart, he attempted to cover it up for there was nothing he could do but ponder over what could have caused this sudden burst of sadness, yet, there was a part of him that began to think of why now—and not before?

A moment later, Kuroo noticed you a bit ahead, and decided to speak to you to take his mind off the growing ache in his chest. Kenma wanted no part of Kuroo’s plan, so he stuck to playing his game as Kuroo rushed over and approached you. Running over to you, (who was considerably shorter when compared to his giant stature), Kuroo tapped your shoulder and had you turn around only to have his breath stuck in his throat as tears poured out of your eyes like dew drops off a fresh leaf.

     “S-Senpai?”

He paused, feeling the pain in his chest grow. Kuroo knew that he could tell with one glance, one look, one simple instant. It was your eyes. Despite the tears streaming down your face, they were still dark-rimmed, haunted, and sad. Most of all though, they were familiar. The fact that you had been a stranger up until that point changed nothing at all. He'd spent summers and winters picturing those same eyes—happy, angry, scared, lost, confused—staring back at him. He would have known them anywhere. 

     “It’s you.”

You quickly wiped your tears away and tried to bolt out of there, but Kuroo grabbed your wrist and halted you to the ground. Kenma noticed what was happening a few feet ahead but paused in his steps, seeing the stern look on his friend’s face. The girl beside him was crying, and something told him that it had a lot to do with how Kuroo had been feeling all evening.

     “I know it’s you—”

     “Let go of me, you don’t know what you’re—”

     “Hey,” 

He didn’t know why he was pleading. He had felt her existence just that day, it felt too unreal to even fight for. But, seeing her cry turned his insides around. There was something strange going on, and he really, really wanted to know what it was.

     “Why does this... Why does this feel—”

     “I don’t want any part of this, senpai. I don’t—”

Kuroo raised his eyebrows, “Wait, you don’t want a soulmate?”

You looked up at the black haired male before frowning, “No. No, I don’t want a soulmate. I’ve never wanted a soulmate! That’s why I’ve been taking these suppressants to—” 

Your eyes widened and you slapped your mouth shut. Kuroo’s grip on your arm loosened. 

     “Did you... Did you know it was me?”

You sniffed before looking away from him. Nodding once, you hoped to all hell that he would drop it.

     “How long?”

     “Why does it matter—”

     “For how long have you known, kouhai-chan?” 

You’ve never heard him speak so callously before, but he had lost the amount of patience he had within him. 

You could now feel his anger. The void in his chest was beginning to fill with anger. Quiet, defeated anger that guaranteed him the right to his hurt, that believed no one could possibly understand that hurt—no one, except you—who was giving it to him. You felt another burst of sorrow hit the back of your throat, but you were sure as hell not going to lose it in front of him. 

     “I...” You were afraid of doing a great many things but, “I knew since a few days.”

What you were most afraid of was lying. And here you had told the biggest lie that could potentially destroy something before it even began. With that, Kuroo let go of your hand and walked away, you were unsure if he was ignoring you or if he was hurt, but you could feel what he was feeling—and it wasn’t pleasant. You wanted to stop him and explain, but you knew that there was no point to it. Biting your lower lip, you walked home, uninterrupted. 

     “What did she say?” Kenma asked, staring at his friend’s face.

Kuroo wasn’t sullen, he was angry. And Kenma noticed it right away. Kuroo’s anger wasn’t loud, it was quiet, seething and potentially could destroy his mental health more than any other emotion. Kuroo’s anger was liquid fire, soothing to look at yet scorching hot. 

     “It’s nothing.” 

Kenma knew it wasn’t nothing, but there was no way he’d get his friend to talk about it right away. This was the sort of thing that would take time, yet he wondered what you had done that could have driven him to the edge like this. 

When you reached home, there was no one there. No one would be, your parents were always out—it was unusual if they were home. Your elder brother was in college in the States, and here you were—alone, paranoid and heartbroken. Your mother had been entirely against the idea of soulmates, calling it primitive and restricting, and while you could see her point, it was always a matter of personal interest for you. You always wondered who your soulmate was, you always wondered what it would be like to meet your significant other, someone you could reach so emotionally. 

Your mother had not met her soulmate. Your parents were not soulmates to begin with, yet there you were. A ‘happy’ family, or so you’d like to call it. Your mother had been giving you suppressants ever since you were young, so as to avoid letting your soulmate feel whatever it was that you were feeling; however, like the doctor had warned, the pills had an adverse effect on your mental wellbeing. On most days, you felt absolutely nothing. On most days, you realized that you had to carry this feeling around, pocketing it with you because normal life went on—regardless of how broken you felt. The pills were slowly eating away your mind yet because you couldn’t say a word in edgewise with your mother, you strove along, like a puppet, doing as she demands because it was the same case with your brother but he luckily got away.

At heart, you have always been a coper; or that’s what you called yourself secretly. You've mostly been able to walk around with your wounds safely hidden, and you've always stored up your deep depressive episodes for the weeks off when there was time to have an abbreviated version of a complete breakdown. But in the end, you'd be able to get up and on with it, could always do what little must be done to scratch by. 

It was not until a few months ago did things start to change. 

You’d always feel what your soulmate was feeling. Episodes of absolute elation and frustration sometimes—this person had their shit together. You felt it for the first time when you were 9 years old, a foreboding sorrow that you could relate to losing a parent or a pet; you wondered if this person lost someone special to them at such a young age, or if they were young at all—you’d never know. After that, you mostly felt hesitance and the need to feel happy again directed from them; you slowly felt this person begin to heal, and feel joy, learn how to deal with their own emotions and you wondered if they ever thought of the possibility of you somewhere.

You kept your soulmate’s emotions to yourself because they were special to you. Despite what your mother said, despite what you were asked to believe, your heart yearned for someone to hold you, tell you that it was okay, to give you space to be yourself—yet, nowadays, it felt like you were asking for too much. 

A few months ago, you saw Kuroo Tetsuroo for the first time. He was laughing at his friend in the corridor and the joy you felt was in sync with his—there was no doubt about it. He was your soulmate. 

You didn’t want to be a stalker, yet you couldn’t avoid trying to see what he was doing, trying to learn what he was like, what his hobbies were—and when you discovered that he was the captain of the Volleyball team in your school, also the best friend of one of your classmates, you were even more curious. 

You wondered if he ever felt your absence; and if he could ever feel your yearning, he wondered if it could mean anything.

That day, you were at the gym not because you followed a cat. It was simply because you wanted to see him. It was no crush, you weren’t that type of schoolgirl, you merely wanted to see what he played like—having been afraid all along to witness him in action. However, you weren’t noticed by anyone and perhaps that wasn’t a good thing at all since the ball hit you in the back of your head and sent you to the ground.

That was how you met your soulmate. And singlehandedly destroyed any prospect of being with him or learning more about him.

As days passed, you felt Kuroo’s rage and confusion—the simple minded betrayal that anyone would feel after an episode like that had occurred. You wouldn’t stop taking the supplements, and your heart was too scared to take a risk to go against what your mother had ordered you to do. Yet, feeling his emotions day in and day were was starting to exhaust you, and the growing guilt left you breathless everyday. 

You turned to the side in the corridor, bumping into someone. You always hid when trying to take the supplements, but this was unexpected. In front of you was your classmate, Kenma, who was also Kuroo’s best friend. Your eyes widened and you knew he saw the pills in your hand. 

     “Are those supplements?”

You were quiet, hands shaking, unable to say a word.

     “Why are you doing that?”

I can’t not, you thought, but you knew you couldn’t say.

     “You’re hurting him.”

Tears filled your eyes, and you nodded because you knew. You knew how much you were hurting him, you didn’t need someone to come and tell you to your face that what you were doing was wrong. 

     “I know...” You said, whispering. Kenma blinked.

     “I know I’m hurting him, but I can’t not do this.”

     “What do you mean? Of course you can. Just...” Kenma placed a hand at the back of his neck, “Just pretend that you’re taking them if someone’s making you.”

The thought of lying to your mother did cross your mind, but you weren’t sure. You were scared that she would catch you, you were scared that she would find out and punish you. You were technically scared of all the hypotheticals because the idea scared you to your very core.

     “You can’t be scared all the time,” His voice was soft, like a lullaby, “If you really want this, you should take it.”

You gasped, but biting your lip and clutching the box of pills harder. You looked at Kenma once and nodded, before walking away briskly. As you passed the dry waste bin, you threw the box of pills inside and headed to class.

*

Kuroo woke up with tears in his eyes. 

His eyes then widened before he wiped them away, scrunching his eyebrows as he tried to think of whether he had a nightmare. He instantly thought of you, because there was no other explanation. Did she forget to take her pills? He thought, but his heart was wrenching at the thought of what you were feeling right then.

Is this why you were taking the pills? Because if you didn’t, all you felt was sadness.

He headed to school with Kenma, quiet the entire way. It was very much unlike him, Kuroo wasn’t used to being so out of character. The feeling of heaviness grew in his chest, but he felt bits and of other emotions as well. Panic, anxiety, and fear—what the hell was going on with your mind? 

     “Oi, Kenma,” Kuroo called out just as they reached school. “Is she in your class?”

Kenma nodded. “Name’s (l/n) (y/n).”

What the hell are you feeling? Kuroo almost blacked out with how heavy your emotions were. 

     “Is it too much?” 

Kuroo didn’t know how to answer that question. He stayed quiet, only intended to meet with you during lunch, force you to talk—because this was driving him insane. He only wondered how the hell you were living all these years, by yourself, bottling all of this deep-rooted heaviness inside. He felt angry for not being called in on this, because even if he wasn’t sure if he could have helped, Kuroo was angry because he was not given a chance.

During lunch, he noticed you walk out of class but he didn’t give you a second to explain as he guided you up to the roof. There were others there, but Kuroo always knew to find a spot that no one else could see. 

You stared at him with wide eyes and he felt the growing anxiety bottle in your chest. He sighed.

     “(l/n)-chan,” He said, rubbing the back of his neck, “What’s going on? You didn’t take those—”

     “I stopped.”

He blinked, “How come?”

     “I... I'm living under water, senpai. Everything seems slow and far away. I know there's a world up there, a sunlit quick world where time runs like dry sand through an hourglass, but down here, where I am, air and sound and time and feeling are thick and dense,”

He didn’t understand you. You then showed him the pills and continued,

     “My parents are not soulmates. My mother started giving me these pills ever since I felt the first emotion from your end. Ever since I knew you were there, living and breathing and existing. I... If it weren’t for your friend, I...”

     “That’s why I barely felt anything from you. You were... Damn, that’s...” He didn’t know what to say.

Leaning down to your stature, Kuroo’s face was inches away from yours. You were staring at him with wide eyes, as you watched him smirk slowly, or maybe that was how he smiled—whatever it was, it was making you feel warm inside.

     “Let’s try to get better, then, yeah?”

     “What?”

He hummed before leaning back and standing straight again, “From the looks of it, you’re feeling this way because you’ve lived your whole life unable to feel at all. Come to a few of my games, my team’s gonna show you an array of colorful emotions. Pick whatever you want.” 

You didn’t know if he was joking, “Kuroo-senpai—”

     “I’m not joking, (l/n)-chan. Yeah, I get that we’re soulmates, but I want to get to know you. And to do that, we need to take this away—” He pressed your nose and chuckled, “—and get to know me while we do this.”

     “I... I don’t—”

     “And someday, we’ll be what we have to be. It’s sad about your parents, but if they’re happy, then it’s great. I won’t say what your mother did was right or wrong, but you have to decide what you want to do.”

You took a deep breath. 

     “Kuroo-san,” He looked at you, earnestly, yet there was a hint of mischief in those eyes, “Someday, we’ll run into each other again, I know it. Maybe I’ll be older and smarter and just plain better. If that happens, that’s when I’ll deserve you. But now, at this moment, you can’t hook your boat to mine, because I’m liable to sink us both.”

Kuroo gave you a soft smile before nodding. Inching forward, he kissed you squarely on the forehead and ruffled your hair. 

     “Remember, I’ll feel what you feel, (l/n)-chan!”

You smiled softly to yourself.

*

Kuroo woke up that morning, feeling nothing but pure satisfaction. A smile streaked across his lips when he thought of you—having been years since he had seen you, and noticed how well you were doing. He appreciated your strong desire to not keep in touch, and that left him wondering what you were doing and if you were still in Tokyo. Yawning, Kuroo stepped out of his house, fully intending to take out the trash that one Sunday morning.

Kuroo had texted him saying he had plans—he had met his soulmate last winter, and apparently the two of them were going to some gaming thing.

Kuroo was happy, generally speaking. Sure, he missed the touch of a person on odd days, unable to find it in him to see anyone romantically, knowing you existed. He didn’t blame you—he wished well for you, wanting to give the universe a chance to scheme something this time around. As he was putting the trash in the bin, scratching the back of his bed head, Kuroo felt a sudden jolt of... what was this feeling? The feeling you get when you’re in a rollercoaster? 

Is she in a theme park somewhere? He thought before turning around, and freezing. 

There you were, standing in front of him, in the cold winter air of Tokyo, wrapped up in a thousand sweaters. Your face was a tad bit red, and your smile was a tad bit long. Kuroo felt warmth wash over his features. Not a word. No word.

     “Kuroo-senpai—”

He rushed toward you, feeling nothing but joy. Wrapping his arms around you, Kuroo breathed into your scent. Your hair tickled his chin and he felt your hands crawl to his back. 

     “I don’t normally hug strangers,” Kuroo teased, “But I’ll make an exception for you.”

     “I’m sorry I took so long.”

He chuckled. “I barely felt the time go by—”

     “I felt your longing for me, please don’t lie, senpai.”

He definitely couldn’t wait to get to know you.